Are we prepared to prevent youth depression?

In this blog, Jasmin Wertz considers a systematic review, which aimed to establish whether there is evidence to support the implementation and dissemination of programs to prevent childhood and adolescent depression.

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Face-to-face psychotherapy for chronic pain in children and adolescents: Cochrane review calls for better primary research

Lisa Burscheidt summarises a recent Cochrane review of psychotherapy for chronic pain in children and adolescents, which concludes that psychological therapies should be considered as a treatment, but better primary studies are needed to help steer pain management decisions.

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Antidepressants, safety warnings and suicide risk in young people

Andrew Shepherd reviews the recent controversial BMJ study that suggests the FDA black box warning about antidepressant use in young people, may have inadvertently caused an increase in suicidal behaviour. He finds it’s not quite that clear cut.

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New evidence on antidepressants and suicide risk in children and young people

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is unfortunately a relatively common condition in children and adolescents.  Depression is estimated to affect 2% of pre-pubertal children and 5-8% of adolescents (Son et al, 2000). As you might expect, depression has a significant negative impact on the development, functioning and risk for suicide in individuals affected, as well as [read the full story…]

Longer adolescent duration of worry and low mood predicts problems in adulthood: suggests early intervention important

Adolescent mental health problems are the cause of deep distress to hundreds of thousands of teenagers in the UK. Young Minds estimates that 850,000 children and young people in the UK have a diagnosed mental health problem, and many more may be suffering in silence.  Statistics on how likely it is that an adolescent with [read the full story…]

Teenagers who have been concussed are three times more likely to have depression, although no one knows why

Depression in teenagers is a significant problem, with serious and potentially fatal consequences. Estimates of how many teenagers have depression at any one time vary between countries, but overall about 4-5% of mid to late teens worldwide are thought to experience clinical depression every year (Thapar et al, 2012). Much of the current knowledge of [read the full story…]

The dark side of universal prevention: Limited effectiveness and harmful effects of classroom-based CBT in preventing adolescent depression

Depression is a common problem in adolescence, with statistics showing that around 20% of young people will go through at least one clinically depressive episode by the age of 18 years. Given the significant impairment and deleterious consequences of depression, sustained efforts have been dedicated to preventive and early intervention. In a recent large trial [read the full story…]

Systematic review identifies key parenting factors associated with adolescent depression and anxiety

Parenting is a tough gig. As a mum of three, I can honestly say that nothing in my everyday professional life comes close to the trials and tribulations of guiding small people through toddlerhood and beyond. Parenting advice comes thick and fast from all corners, most of it unsolicited, some of it anecdotal, much of [read the full story…]