Psychological Treatment for Adolescent Depression ...

1 Behaviour Change| Volume 27| Number 1| 2010 | pp. 1 ?? Psychological Treatment for AdolescentDepression: Perspectives on the Past,Present, and FutureLouise Hayes,1,2 Patricia A. Bach3and Candice P. Boyd41 School of Behavioural and Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Ballarat, Australia2 Ballarat Health Services, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, Ballarat, Australia3 Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, United States of America4 Orygen Youth Health Research Centre, University of Melbourne, AustraliaThe objective of this review is to summarise the evidence for mindfulness andacceptance approaches in the Treatment of Adolescent Depression .

2 The articlebegins by summarising the outcomes of three broad approaches to the Treatment ofadolescent Depression primary prevention, pharmacotherapy, and psychother-apy in order to advocate for advances in Treatment . With regard to psychother-apy, we restrict this to comparisons of meta-analytic studies, in order to cover thebreadth of the outcome literature. In the second half of this article, we introducethe reader to mindfulness and acceptance-based psychotherapy, with a particularfocus on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and the applicabilitywith adolescents.

3 We provide an overview of the philosophical arguments thatunderlie this approach to psychotherapy and consider how each of these mightcontribute to Treatment approaches for adolescents with Depression . Keywords: Adolescent Depression , Adolescent psychotherapyDepression is a substantial health issue among adolescents. Epidemiological datafrom a large sample (N= 9,863) of school-based young adolescents revealed depres-sion rates of 18% overall, with considerably higher rates in females than males, 25%and 10% respectively (Saluja et al.)

4 , 2004). Other studies have found rates of clinicaldepression among adolescents between 3% and 8% (Apter, Kronenberg, & Brent,2005; Merry, McDowell, Hedrick, Bir, & Muller, 2004). Furthermore, depressionrarely occurs without comorbid mental health problems, which can be as high as40% to 95% (Parker & Roy, 2001). The most common co-occurring conditions areanxiety disorders, followed by disruptive behaviour disorders (Parker & Roy, 2001).Gender differences are evident, with rates similar for boys and girls until around theage of 13 to 15 years, when girls begin to show a disproportionate increase in depres-sion (Hyde, Medullas, & Abramson, 2008; Merry et al.

5 , 2004). We know little aboutwhy this shift occurs, nor how girls and boys might respond differentially to preven-tion and Treatment (Merry et al., 2004). Of most concern is that the experience ofdepression in adolescence increases the likelihood of recurrent Depression in adult-hood (Fergusson, Harwood, Ridder, & Beautrais, 2005; Keenan-Miller, Hamden, &Brennan, 2007) with a 40% cumulative probability of recurrent Depression withinAddress for correspondence: Dr Louise Hayes, Department of Behavioural, Social Sciences and Humanities,University of Ballarat, PO Box 663, Mount Helen VIC 3353, Australia.

6 Email: 11/6/10 3:03 PM Page 1two years and 70% within five years (Parker & Roy, 2001). Into adulthood, the long-term effects of Depression are poor physical health, higher health care usage, andwork impairment (Keenan-Miller et al., 2007). The burden of disease on societyshould not be the importance of this issue to the health of society, the purpose of thisarticle is twofold. The first section examines the outcomes of three broadapproaches to the Treatment of Adolescent Depression primary prevention, phar-macotherapy, and psychotherapy in order to advocate for advances in treat-ments.

7 With regard to psychotherapy, we will restrict this to comparisons ofmeta-analytic studies, in order to cover the breadth of the outcome literature. Thesecond section aims to introduce the reader to mindfulness and acceptance-basedpsychotherapy, with a particular focus on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy(ACT) and its applicability to adolescents. We will provide an overview of twophilosophical positions that underlie psychotherapy and consider how each of thesemight contribute to Treatment for adolescents with Evidence for Adolescent DepressionEffectiveness of Primary Prevention for Adolescent DepressionWith youth Depression at unprecedented rates, researchers have turned their atten-tion to the development and evaluation of new ways of teaching young peoplecoping strategies via school-based screening or intervention programs (Horowitz.)

8 Garber, Ciesla, Young, & Mufson, 2007; Sheffield et al., 2006; Young, MufsonLaura, & Davies, 2006). Prevention programs fall into two categories universalor targeted (Mrazek & Haggarty, 1994). Universal programs are delivered in schoolsto all youths, frequently by teaching staff. Targeted programs are delivered to youngpeople that have been screened and have high levels of risk. These programs aredelivered in schools, usually in small group formats. Merry et al. (2004) conducted aCochrane review of universal and targeted prevention programs for young people upto 19 years of age, where the participants were not in the clinical range for depres-sion symptoms.

9 The meta-analysis included 13 studies nine using universal inter-vention and five using targeted interventions. For the universal interventions, theeffect size was not significant (ES = , 95%CI , ). However, for tar-geted studies, Merry et al. reported positive Treatment effects at posttreatment withan effect size of (95%CI to ). Only two studies included an activecontrol group; both were universal PENN prevention programs (Pattison & Lynd-Stevenson, 2001; Shatter, 1997), and there was no evidence of effectiveness at post- Treatment ES = , or at 12 months ES = The review authors concludedthat although the evidence for targeted programs was promising, there was insuffi-cient evidence to support the use of targeted and universal programs to prevent theincidence of Adolescent Depression (Merry, 2007; Merry et al.)

10 , 2004).A second meta-analysis on universal and targeted prevention programs was con-ducted across 30 studies (Horowitz & Garber, 2006). This review also found thattargeted programs were more effective than universal programs. The effect sizeacross 30 studies was to , with a positive statistic indicative of a positiveoutcome. These reviewers also found that at follow-up, few studies had a genuineprevention effect and only targeted programs held the Horowitz and Garber (2006) review, Merry (2007) reviewed thesix subsequent trials that have been published between 2004 and 2006.