Primum non nocere: Toward a Greater Understanding of the Potential for Harm in Psychological Treatments for Youth.

The field of clinical psychological science has made considerable progress over the years in developing, testing, and disseminating psychological interventions for youth mental health conditions. Despite these achievements, the question of whether certain treatments may actually be inert, or at worst, iatrogenic, has been relatively underexamined compared to affirmative questions of efficacy. Fortunately, interest in the topic of harm within psychological treatments is growing. However, much of this work has taken place from a general theoretical perspective and has primarily focused on adults, and adaptations to youth populations remain limited. Thus, this special issue fills an important gap in the literature in terms of furthering our understanding of the potential for harm in youth mental health treatment. The articles in this collection contain a balance of conceptual, methodological, and empirical research focused on better understanding the potential for harm in youth mental health treatment with regard to particular populations, settings, and psychological disorders. In this introductory article, we: (a) explicate a brief background review of previous conceptual and empirical knowledge development efforts concerning potential for harm in psychological treatments, (b) outline unique considerations for specifically addressing this topic in youth, and (c) provide an overview and synthesis of articles in the collection. This special issue raises awareness of the ways in which youth may inadvertently be adversely affected by psychological interventions. We hope this will lead to greater refinement of beneficial evidence-based interventions and more nuanced attention given to potential areas of pitfall in clinical practice with youth.