Cognitive-behavioral treatment of adolescent depression: Efficacy of acutegroup treatment and booster sessions

Objective: This trial examined the effects of both acute and maintenance co gnitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for depressed adolescents. Method: Adolesc ents with major depression or dysthymia (N = 123) were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 eight-week acute conditions: adolescent group CBT (16 two-hour sess ions); adolescent group CBT with a separate parent group; or waitlist contr ol. Subsequently, participants completing the acute CBT groups were randoml y reassigned to 1 of 3 conditions for the 24-month follow-up period: assess ments every 4 months with booster sessions; assessments only every 4 months ; or assessments only every 12 months. Results: Acute CBT groups yielded hi gher depression recovery rates (66.7%) than the waitlist (48.1%), and great er reduction in self-reported depression, Outcomes for the adolescent-only and adolescent + parent conditions were not significantly different. Rates of recurrence during the 2-year follow-up were lower than found with treate d adult depression. The booster sessions did not reduce the rate of recurre nce in the follow-up period but appeared to accelerate recovery among parti cipants who were still depressed at the end of the acute phase. Conclusions : The findings, which replicate and expand upon a previous study, support t he growing evidence that CBT is an effective intervention for adolescent de pression.