Treatment of adolescent depression: Frequency of services and impact on functioning in young adulthood

Abstract

In this report, we (a) present descriptive information about the extent and the kinds of treatments being provided to depressed adolescents; (b) identify the factors that are related to treatment utilization; and (c) examine whether the provision of treatment during adolescence reduced the risk for the occurrence of depression during young adulthood (19–24 years). The sample consisted of 1,507 randomly selected high school students who were diagnostically assessed on two occasions with an interval of approximately one year; 627 were assessed a third time when they reached the age of 24. The findings may be summarized as follows: 60.7% of those with major depressive disorder were provided with treatment. The modal treatment was outpatient, individual psychotherapy administered by a mental health provider. Inpatient treatment and medications were rare. Factors found to be related to treatment utilization were the severity of the depression, the existence of a comorbid nonaffective disorder, the number of previous episodes of depression, history of suicide attempt, academic problems, lack of intact family, and female gender. Unexpectedly, those who had received treatment were not less likely to relapse into another episode of depression during young adulthood. Depression and Anxiety 7:47–52, 1998. © 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

Anxiety in children: when is it classed as a disorder that should be treated?

“…According to recent epidemiological studies, approximately 10-20% of children met the lifetime criteria for an anxiety disorder [3,4]. These data indicate that anxiety disorders are the most common psychiatric disorders affecting children.…”

Familial Pathways to Early-Onset Suicidal Behavior: Familial and Individual Antecedents of Suicidal Behavior

“…In addition, the number of events (N=20) was similar to the number of events we found in our first cross-sectional analysis of this sample (7). The findings are not likely to be spurious, because they are consistent with our own cross-sectional analyses as well as findings in the literature (2,7,33) and because they are consistent across complementary analytic approaches.…”

“…Similarly, clinicians who treat adolescent suicide attempters should inquire about family history of depression, since maternal depression has been linked in several studies to an adverse response to treatment (33). Moreover, recent evidence shows that treatment of maternal depression results in improved psychiatric and functional outcomes for children (39).…”

Gender differences in eating disorder symptoms in young adults

“…This parallels a previously reported finding for the same sample of greater mental health service utilization for women with comparable levels of depression (Lewinsohn, Rohde, & Seeley, 1998). The female elevation in treatment seeking needs to be understood in the context of relatively small proportions of the total sample that had sought (16% of the women and 2% of the men reported that they had wanted treatment) or received treatment.…”

“…Our results do not inform about the potential motivational differences between men and women that prompt the desire for treatment and actual treatment seeking. The main finding of greater help seeking for women parallels a previously reported finding for the same sample of greater mental health service utilization for women with comparable levels of depression (Lewinsohn et al, 1998).…”