Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment for Depression in Adolescents

The goal of this article is to briefly review and summarize the rationale and research support for cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) as a treatment for depressed adolescents. A primary focus of the paper is on our group CBT treatment for adolescent depression, entitled the Adolescent Coping With Depression Course. In addition, initial findings from a large, recently-completed study contrasting individual CBT to fluoxetine for depressed adolescents (Treatment of Adolescents with Depression Study) are presented. Although the research support for CBT as a treatment for depressed adolescents is generally encouraging, we need to better understand which depressed adolescents benefit from CBT, how and when to incorporate medication and family-based interventions into CBT treatment, how to treat depressed adolescents with comorbid psychiatric conditions, and how CBT interventions fare with non-European-American depressed adolescents.