Psychotherapy Treatments for Childhood Depression - Mental Health Disorders

Psychotherapy Treatments for Childhood Depression

It was once thought that childhood and adult depression were unrelated–that a child who was regularly depressed would not necessarily become depressed as an adult. However, a recent study conducted by Dr. Maria Kovacs, a psychologist at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic in Pittsburgh, and reported in the January 11, 1994 issue of The New York Times , found that 75% of children between the ages of eight and 13 who were depressed had recurrences of depression in their adult years. According to Dr. Kovacs, one of the symptoms of depression in children is their inability or unwillingness to talk about their sadness. They are typically irritable, impatient, cranky, and angry, especially towards their parents.

The best therapy for children suffering from depression usually involves helping them learn new, more positive ways of reacting to their difficulties. Dr. Gregory Clark, a psychologist at Oregon Health Sciences University, found that 25% of students in one high school had low-level depression. Seventy-five students subsequently attended eight-weeks of after-school classes in which they learned to change the thinking patterns that lead to depression, improve their skills in making friends and reducing conflict with their parents, and find enjoyable social activities. By the end of the sessions, 55% had recovered from their mild depression (about twice as many as in a comparison group that did not attend the classes)–and of those, only 14% later became seriously depressed.

Group therapy also appears to be successful in preventing children from becoming depressed. One experiment led by Dr. Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania proved that it is possible to prevent the emergence of depression in children who are not yet depressed but who are at risk. In the program, 69 children from 10–13 years old met in small groups once a week for 12 weeks in special afternoon classes. They learned to handle interpersonal disputes, understand moods such as anxiety, sadness, and anger and how to control them, and alter their pessimistic beliefs which lead to depression. A year later, 44% of the children who did not take the classes developed depression, compared with only 22% of the children who attended the classes.