NCJ Number
211089
Journal
Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Volume: 44 Issue: 9 Dated: September 2005 Pages: 888-898
Date Published
September 2005
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This study evaluated the effectiveness of a collaborative care, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) program for depressed adolescents receiving antidepressant medication.
Abstract
Much of the previous research on treatments for depressed youth has focused on monotherapies that deliver only one type of therapy in isolation from others. Evaluation findings of these therapies have reported that only between 35 to 65 percent of depressed youth recover fully at the conclusion of monotherapy treatments, strongly indicating the need for more potent treatments. The current study investigated the effectiveness of a collaborative care treatment program that combined cognitive-behavioral therapy with medication for the treatment of depressed adolescents. The evaluation involved a randomized effectiveness trial that compared a treatment-as-usual (TAU) control group (N=75) with a TAU group that also incorporated the use of CBT (N=77). Control and treatment participants were prescribed selective serotonergic reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) medication outside of the experimental protocol and all had a diagnosis of major depressive disorder. Results indicated a weak CBT effect that may have shown up as less significant due to the small sample size and the unexpected reduction in SSRI therapy in the CBT group. Despite the minimal support found in this evaluation, collaborative therapies still offer improvements over monotherapies and represent the new norm in adolescent mental health treatment. Figures, tables, references