Intervene quickly to prevent teen depression

William Atkins
Friday, 05 June 2009 18:45

Science - Health

The CB program consisted of eight weekly 90-minute group sessions of CB instruction and six follow-up monthly sessions.

The study showed that early intervention in teen depression is very helpful in preventing future depression in high-risk teenagers.

Specifically, the researchers found that 21.4% of the teens on the CB program had a future attack of depression.

The teens in the control (“usual” care) group had a future episode of depression in 32.7% of the cases.

However, they found that the CB program was not effective for teens with a currently depressed parent.

The researchers concluded, “The CB prevention program had a significant prevention effect through the 9-month follow-up period based on both clinical diagnoses and self-reported depressive symptoms, but this effect was not evident for adolescents with a currently depressed parent.” [JAMA paper]

Page three includes comments from lead researcher Dr. Garber.