What Do We Know About Depression Among Youth and How Can We Make Progress Toward Improved Understanding and Reducing Distress? A New Hope

Abstract

This paper summarizes many findings about depression among children and adolescents. Depression is prevalent, highly distressing, and exerts considerable burden worldwide. Rates surge from childhood through young adulthood and have increased over the last decade. Many risk factors have been identified, and evidence-based interventions exist targeting mostly individual-level changes via psychological or pharmacological means. At the same time, the field appears stuck and has not achieved considerable progress in advancing scientific understanding of depression’s features or delivering interventions to meet the challenge of youth depression’s high and growing prevalence. This paper adopts several positions to address these challenges and move the field forward. First, we emphasize reinvigoration of construct validation approaches that may better characterize youth depression’s phenomenological features and inform more valid and reliable assessments that can enhance scientific understanding and improve interventions for youth depression. To this end, history and philosophical principles affecting depression’s conceptualization and measurement are considered. Second, we suggest expanding the range and targets of treatments and prevention efforts beyond current practice guidelines for evidence-based interventions. This broader suite of interventions includes structural- and system-level change focused at community and societal levels (e.g., evidence-based economic anti-poverty interventions) and personalized interventions with sufficient evidence base. We propose that by focusing on the FORCE (Fundamentals, Openness, Relationships, Constructs, Evidence), youth depression research can provide new hope.

The effect of behavioral activation play therapy in adolescents with depression: a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

“…However, it is di cult to estimate the long-term e cacy of psychotherapy. Despite the best efforts of researchers, the current interventions do not adequately satisfy the needs of adolescents with depression [52]. This may be the reason for the small therapeutic effect.…”

The effect of behavioral activation play therapy in adolescents with depression: A study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

“…The standardized mean difference (SMD) was -0.08 (95% CI: -0.20 to -0.03, p = 0.002, I 2 = 72%) and -0.12 (95% CI: -0.20 to -0.03, p = 0.01, I2 = 68%) at 1 and 2 years, respectively [ 63 ]. Despite the best efforts of researchers, the current interventions do not adequately satisfy the needs of adolescents with depression [ 64 ]. This may be the reason for the small therapeutic effect.…”

Psychosocial Stressors Associated with Depression Among Young Adults in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia.

“…Living with parents is a culture that exists in Indonesian society, and this condition is often found not only in young adults but also in children who already have families. The results of previous studies have shown that young adults living with their parents with closer relationships reported lower rates of depression (Romm et al, 2021); (Hankin & Griffith, 2023); (Idris & Tuzzahra, 2023). Living alone is more at risk of depression than living with a partner (Copp et al, 2018); (Honjo et al, 2018).…”