COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL THERAPY OF DEPRESSION AND DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS DURING ADOLESCENCE - A REVIEW AND METAANALYSIS

Objective: Outcome studies support the effectiveness of cognitive-beha vioral approaches for treating depression among adults. The effectiven ess of these approaches for adolescents, however, has received less em pirical attention. This article critically reviews the literature on c ognitive-behavioral therapy with depressed and dysphoric adolescents. Method: A meta-analysis was conducted to assess the effectiveness of t hese approaches and the stability of therapeutic gains. Results: Fourt een posttreatment-controI comparisons and 10 follow-up-control compari sons resulted from six studies containing 217 subjects. The overall ef fect size posttreatment was -1.02, whereas the overall effect size at follow-up was -0.61. The effect sizes in both of these analyses were h omogeneous and were supported by Fail-Safe-N calculations. Conclusion: Results suggest the short-and long-term effectiveness of cognitive-be havioral approaches for treating depressive symptoms with this populat ion.