Depression In Youngsters Research Articles

Depression in Children and Adolescents: Nature, Diagnosis, Assessment, and Treatment

Depression in youngsters may be one of the most overlooked and undertreated psychological disorders of childhood and adolescence. A number of formal and informal systems of classification are described. In general, these systems view depression in children and adolescents as similar in symptom expression to depression in adults. This article describes the significant gains that have been made over the past decade in the development of measures for the assessment of depression in children and adolescents. Although only a few control-group psychological treatment studies have been published, results of these studies are summarized and suggest that psychotherapeutic interventions with moderately depressed children and adolescents are effective. New directions in research on the nature of depression in children and adolescents are delineated, and in particular the findings of significant comorbidity existing in depressed children and adolescents. The need for school psychologists to understand the nature, issues in diagnosis, assessment procedures, and therapeutic methods specific to depression in children and adolescents is discussed.

School-Based Intervention Strategies for the Treatment of Depression in Children and Adolescents

Depression in children and adolescents is a major problem of which special service providers need to be aware. In recent years, a number of advances have been realized in the identification of depression in youngsters via self-report depression scales. There have also been advances in the development of cognitive-behavioral intervention strategies for the amelioration of depressive symptomatology in children and adolescents. This article describes components of treatment programs that have demonstrated efficacy in the treatment programs that have demonstrated efficacy in the treatment of depressed youngsters. Specific components described include: self-monitoring, activity scheduling, cognitive restructuring, attribution retraining, self-evaluation training, self-reinforcement training, and relaxation training. Results of several group treatment studies that have utilized the components delineated are presented. Recommendations as well as cautions are put forth for special service providers in the use of ...