Characteristics in the development of symptoms in the in-patient treatment of aggressive behavioural disorders.

The symptom development within therapy of 16 juvenile patients is analysed starting from an integrated cognitive therapeutical attempt at changing aggressive behaviour. By means of "event sampling" of aggressive escalations the changes in the frequent occurrence of symptoms on the basis of the starting data of the first therapy phases were compared with data from the last therapy phases, where various change criteria were taken as a basis. In this case the symptom improvement clearly outweighs the deteriorations in each case. A parameter-free cluster analysis of the respective symptom courses allows the hypothesis, that an intensive aggressiveness of longer duration at the beginning promises a more favourable entire development in therapy, to appear justified.