Study Clarifies a Depression Risk

NY Times ^ | June 3, 2009 | RONI RABIN

[neverdem]

Teenagers whose parents have a history of depression are at particularly high risk of becoming depressed themselves. Now, a large clinical trial has found that a group cognitive behavioral program that teaches coping and problem-solving skills to such high-risk teenagers can reduce the risk.

But, the study also found, the success rate of the prevention program varied greatly depending on the mental health status of the teenagers’ parents at the time they began intervention. The program was much more effective than standard care if the parents were also not depressed when the intervention began.

The study was published in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Association.

“Were we surprised?” said Judy Garber, a professor of psychology and human development at Vanderbilt University. “No. There is evidence in the literature that kids don’t respond as well to treatment if the parent is depressed.”

John Weisz, a professor of psychology at Harvard University who was not involved in the trial, said the results might help identify the best candidates for the prevention program.

He said there were several reasons why the treatment may be less effective when a parent is depressed. “It may be the biological risk for depression is greater in these adolescents — that if the parents were once depressed but aren’t depressed any longer, the biological risk isn’t as great," he said.

Another possibility is that living in a home with a depressed parent is difficult for a child, he added, while a third possibility is that the teenagers model their parents' behavior.

The study was a randomized controlled clinical trial conducted in four cities: Nashville; Boston; Pittsburgh; and Portland, Ore. It included 316 teenagers between the ages of 13 and 17, all of whom had parents who were either depressed or had been depressed at some earlier...

[neverdem]

Prevention of Depression in At-Risk Adolescents

FReebie

[Kevmo]

bookmark for later — I’m reading up on cognitive behavior therapy and, in particular, Rational Emotive Therapy which was developed by Albert Ellis. I’m intrigued by Dr. Miller’s treatment of Ellis’s work and the explanation that it’s the limbic system of the brain that needs retraining.

[Osnome]

>>He said there were several reasons why the treatment may be less effective when a parent is depressed. “It may be the biological risk for depression is greater in these adolescents — that if the parents were once depressed but aren’t depressed any longer, the biological risk isn’t as great,” he said.

Another possibility is that living in a home with a depressed parent is difficult for a child, he added, while a third possibility is that the teenagers model their parents’ behavior.
<<

Nature or nurture or both.....

There are many causes for depression.

Manic Depressive Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, and Obsessive Compulsive can swing to a depressive mode.

It is also a symptom caused by Asperger’s Syndrome, I believe

[neverdem]

There are many causes for depression.

I'm wondering if it is a sympathetic depression or a simlar term for these kids with depressed parents. I only read the abstract of the article that I linked. Using a sympathetic detonation is or was a term used in explosive ordnance disposal for stuff that you don't want to try defusing. A stable explosive is detonated adjacent to the explosive that you want to destroy at your command when it is thought to be safe. It was called, "blowing it in place."