Concurrent Treatment for Depressed Parents and DepressedAdolescents
Condition: Depression; Suicide
MeSH terms: Suicide
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      This study will develop an integrated treatment for adolescents who are depressed and
      suicidal and their parents who are depressed and have a history of suicidality.
    

Detailed description: 
      Depression, like many psychiatric disorders, has a genetic component that makes it more
      likely that members of the same family will have the disorder. Depression in parents,
      particularly mothers, may put the children at greater risk for depression. When an adolescent
      whose parent is depressed develops depression himself or herself, treating both the parent
      and the adolescent may be more effective than treating only the adolescent. This study will
      test a depression treatment that targets depressed suicidal adolescents with a parent or
      primary caretaker who is also depressed and has a history of suicidality.

      Participation in this study will last 6 months. Participants will be randomly assigned to
      receive either concurrent parent and adolescent treatment or adolescent only treatment. For
      those assigned to concurrent treatment, both the adolescent participants and one of their
      parents will receive individual cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) counseling sessions and
      joint family counseling sessions. In the adolescent only treatment condition, adolescent
      participants will receive individual CBT sessions, but parents will not, and both will
      receive joint family sessions. Counseling sessions will last 1 hour and occur weekly for 3
      months, and then every other week for 3 months. CBT identifies and attempts to change
      problematic thought patterns. All participants will receive medication consultation if
      necessary.

      Participants will complete assessments at baseline, post-treatment, and 6 months after
      completing treatment. These assessments will include questionnaires and interviews about
      depression, suicidal thoughts, mood regulation, behavioral problems, and family. At
      post-treatment and the 6-month follow-up, participants will also be asked to give feedback
      about the counseling, medication consultation, and their satisfaction.
    

Intervention name(s): Concurrent treatment; Adolescent treatment only
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Individual CBT sessions for parents and adolescents plus combined parent-adolescent family sessions, delivered weekly for 3 months in the acute phase and bimonthly for 3 months in the maintenance phase. The techniques used to teach cognitive restructuring and problem solving to parents will be similar to those taught to the adolescents, except emotion regulation skills will be added to the parent treatment.; Individual CBT for adolescents only plus combined parent-adolescent family sessions, delivered weekly for 3 months in the acute phase and bimonthly for 3 months in the maintenance phase
Other intervention name(s): CBT for adolescents and parents
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single (Outcomes Assessor)
Primary purpose: Treatment
Keywords: Suicidal Ideation; Suicide Attempts