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Background: Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) has been shown to be effective in preventing relapse of depression in adults, but has not previously been applied to adolescents who have residual symptoms of depression following treatment. Method: An 8-week MBCT group was adapted for adolescents, and evaluated using qualitative and quantitative measures. Results: Participants report high levels of satisfaction with the group intervention. Qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews provides areas for future development of this intervention. Pilot data indicate reductions in depressive symptoms, alongside positive change in mindfulness skills, quality of life and rumination. Conclusions: Preliminary evidence for the use of MBCT with this group of adolescents is provided. Key Practitioner Message• It is known that the course of depression from childhood is characterized by relapse and continuity into adulthood.• There is a need to develop interventions that ameliorate the course of this disorder. • Mindfulness-based approaches have good evidence in adults in reducing symptoms of depression and in relapse reduction. They have also been seen to be acceptable to children and adolescents, though not yet with a clinically referred group of adolescents with symptoms of depression.• A group programme of MBCT for adolescents with symptoms of low mood is presented here. • This research demonstrates the feasibility of this approach.

The development of treatments based on cognitive models of worry has led to improved outcomes for adults with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), and holds out the promise that similar improvements may be achieved for GAD further down the age range. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the effect of a GADspecific, cognitive treatment in a sample of children and adolescents with GAD. Sixteen youth (7-17 years of age) who were consecutive referrals to a specialty anxiety disorders clinic, with a primary diagnosis of DSM-IV GAD, and who were not undergoing concurrent pharmacological treatment for anxiety were provided 5 to 15 session (mean = 9.7) of cognitive therapy aimed at their tolerance for uncertainty, beliefs about worry, negative problem orientation, and cognitive avoidance strategies. All participants who entered the study completed treatment and 13 (81%) lost their GAD diagnosis (not blindly assessed); two were improved but still had GAD and one experienced no improvement at all. Age, gender and number of sessions received were unrelated to diagnostic outcome but age was positively correlated (r = 0.6, P \ .01) with pre-to-post reductions in worry frequency. The uncontrolled effect size for self-reported worry was 2.0 and for anxiety was 1.4. Further controlled evaluations of this cognitive treatment for GAD in children and adolescents are warranted.