Adolescent children of depressed parents are at increased risk of developing depressive disorders. Previous research from small trials has shown the depression risk can be reduced, but these results have not been replicated in larger studies.

Now, in the June 3, 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, scientists report that cognitive behavioral prevention programs may benefit some teens who are risk for depression.

Researchers from Vanderbilt University in Nashville and their colleagues studied 316 teenagers aged 13-17 years whose parents had current or prior depressive disorders in order to determine the effects of a group cognitive behavioral (CB) prevention program in preventing the onset of depression. The adolescents were randomly assigned to either usual care or the CB prevention program consisting of 8 weekly group sessions followed by 6 monthly continuation sessions. The researchers found that teenager were less likely to experience depressive episodes and more likely to experience improvement in self-reported depressive symptoms. However, it seemed that these benefits were found only among those adolescents whose parents were not currently depressed.

Although this study showed some benefit of cognitive behavioral prevention programs in reducing the incidence of depression among at-risk adolescents, it also highlights the moderating effects of a parent’s depression on the mood of his or her children.

Source:

JAMA. 2009;301(21):2215-2224.