Mode Deactivation Therapy (MDT) has been shown to be an effective treatment for a variety of adolescent disorders including emotional dysregulation, behavioral dysregulation, physical aggression, sexual aggression, and many harmful symptoms of anxiety and traumatic stress. MDT Family Therapy has been effective in reducing family disharmony in case studies and has been shown to be efficacious as compared to treatment as usual (TAU) in treating families with a variety of problem behaviors and in reducing and maintaining treatment effects through two years of tracking recidivism rates. The nature of the pediatric behavioral health industry poses a challenge for treatment research--adequate sample sizes are not always available, and the organizations themselves are generally hostile to active research. The requirement for a control group is often viewed as a human rights concern in this population (often mandated to participate in treatment), and the resistance of the clients and families, although normative, demands that the clinician researcher find a strategy to motivate them to work hard to address their problems. This article provides a treatment paradigm of the MDT treatment process and reports a study comparing an MDT group and a TAU group.