William Atkins
Friday, 05 June 2009 18:45
Science -
Health
Page 1 of 3
One in 12 U.S. teens are depressed. Three times more will be depressed at some point in their early lives. A large study shows that getting help quickly
with cognitive behavioral (CB) prevention is better than traditional methods to combat teen depression.
The study (JAMA 2009;301(21):2215-2224) was published, June 3, 2009, in the
Journal of the American Medial Association (JAMA) under the title “
Prevention of Depression in At-Risk Adolescents.”
Its authors are:
Judy Garber, Gregory N. Clarke, V. Robin Weersing, William R. Beardslee, David A. Brent, Tracy R. G. Gladstone, Lynn L. DeBar, Frances L. Lynch, Eugene D’Angelo, Steven D. Hollon, Wael Shamseddeen, and Satish Iyengar.
The June 4, 2009
Time magazine article “
Study: Early Therapy Can Save Teens from Depression” states (based on National Institute of Mental Health statistics) that 20% of teenagers diagnosed with clinical depression will develop chronic cases that will continue throughout adulthood.
Suicide is also at an increased risk for depressed adolescents. Because of these risks, it is important that teens get help quickly when they are depressed.
The researchers studied 316 adolescents (13 to 17 years of age) from four U.S. cities. All had parents with current or prior depressive disorders.
The teens all had a past history of depression or a current diagnosis of "elevated but subdiagnostic depressive" symptoms, or both. The study was held between August 2003 and February 2006.
Half of the teens were given a program called group cognitive behavioral (CB) prevention, while the others were given traditional (“usual”) care when depression is first noticed (that is, they were allowed to seek help in any way that was available to them locally).
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