Parent-Child Interaction Therapy

What is PCIT?

Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is an empirically-supported treatment for conduct-disordered young children that places emphasis on improving the quality of the parent-child relationship and changing parent-child interaction patterns. In PCIT, parents are taught specific skills to establish a nurturing and secure relationship with their child while increasing their child’s prosocial behavior and decreasing negative behavior. This treatment focuses on two basic interactions: Child Directed Interaction (CDI) is similar to play therapy in that parents engage their child in a play situation with the goal of strengthening the parent-child relationship; Parent Directed Interaction (PDI) resembles clinical behavior therapy in that parents learn to use specific behavior management techniques as they play with their child.

For a summary of PCIT and information about the future research directions of PCIT see:

Herschell, A., Calzada, E., Eyberg, S.M., & McNeil, C.B. (2002). Parent-child interaction therapy: New directions in research. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 9, 9-16. PDF.File