Bullies Benefit from Family Therapy

Family therapy can help adolescent bullies improve their behavior.

Psychotherapy can help young bullies mend their ways - and therapy that involves the entire family is more effective than one-on-one therapy. That's the finding of a new study by Marius K. Nickel, M.D., a researcher at the Clinic for Psychosomatic Medicine in Simbach/Inn, Germany. Of the 22 adolescent male study participants, more than 50 percent met the criteria for AD/HD, oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, or borderline personality disorder.

After six months of family therapy, the boys were also less likely to smoke or to abuse drugs or alcohol.