Recent researches have shown that teenagers whose parents have experienced depression are also on a high risk of being depressed. Clinical studies prove that group programs with focus on developing problem solving and coping skills may reduce the risk of depression for teens.
The study found out though that the state of mental health of the teenager’s parents is very important for the success of the intervention. It will be better if the parents of the youngster are also not depressed during the time of the prevention.
Psychologists are astounded with the result and see them as helpful in pointing out candidates who may benefit from such programs.
The experts have explored the possibilities of why the treatment is less effective for kids with depressed parents. They look into the biological factors leading into depression in adolescents whose parents are suffering from depression themselves. They cite that the story is different for teeners whose parents have recovered from depression.
Clinicians also site the difficulty the teenagers are going through sharing a home with depressed parents. Another factor is that the kids may be seeing the behavior of their parents as a model to follow.
The behavioral research was done in four cities using a randomized controlled method. The 316 subjects came from the cities of Portland, Pittsburgh, Nashville, and Boston. The age group was limited to youths between 13 and 17 years old.
The program required the subjects to attend 8 weekly sessions of 1.5 hours of group therapy followed by monthly session for the next sixth months. Another group was given the usual care for depression.
Only 21% of the subjects who received the preventive programs got depressed while around 33% of those who were subjected to the usual care were depressed.
Depression is so tragic with teens, I really hope this helps…