The benefits of psychotherapy are weaker in children and adolescents with depression than in adults



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## The benefits of psychotherapy are weaker in children and adolescents with depression than in adults

27/03/2020 |
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* [![ estudis-depresio-infantil-adolescents _MG_2746](/com/investigacio/arxiu/noticies/2020/3/estudis-depresio-infantil-adolescents/_MG_2746.jpg)](#)

The beneficial effects of psychotherapy are weaker among children and adolescents with symptoms of depression than when this therapy is applied in adulthood. The effects of the treatment method are slightly greater for young adults, but there are no clear differences in the effect of the therapy between middle-aged and older adults, according to research carried out by an international group of researchers led by Pim Cuijpers from the Clinical Psychology Area at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam published on the website of the scientific journal *JAMA Psychiatry* and with the participation of the Universitat Jaume I (UJI).

From a clinical and scientific perspective, it is important to know the effect of psychotherapies for depression in the different stages of life. In the last forty years, research has been carried out on the effect of psychotherapies on children, adolescents, adults and the elderly. Thus, the research developed in recent years in Europe, especially in the child and adolescent stages, provides the necessary data to know the state of this issue in Europe, since until now we only had data from the North American area, although research on adults or the elderly is similar between both continents.

Soledad Quero, lecturer of the Area of Personality, Evaluation and Psychological Treatments and co-author of the work with Pim Cuijpers, assures that "by combining the databases and methods of the group led by professor Cuijpers, we can investigate the effects of psychotherapies on depression throughout life and find out possible differences in these effects". In this way, "we can also examine whether psychotherapies for depression have similar effects throughout life, and we have observed that therapies among young people are less likely to be effective: there is a clear need to improve psychotherapies in children and adolescents".

In her opinion, it is important to study the effects of the therapies on the different age groups for several reasons, including selecting the best treatment according to age: "The differences we have found between the groups are important for informing professionals in this health field about the potential of the treatments in the different age groups. Our results can provide a guide for selecting the most appropriate treatment for each patient taking into account their age range".

Depressions in the child and adolescent population often develop for the first time during this period and appropriate treatment can prevent them from becoming chronic. Therefore, as Soledad Quero states, there is an urgent need to investigate "improved treatment methods, because medication has little effect and is generally not recommended due to a possible increased risk of suicidal thoughts". The UJI lecturer acknowledges that there are few studies on the treatment of depression in Spain and Europe and encourages the research community to carry them out, so that health professionals in the field of psychotherapy can offer the best treatments to their patients.

Four main bibliographic databases (PubMed, PsychINFO, Embase and Cochrane) have been used as a source for this study, searching for trials comparing psychotherapy with control conditions up to January 2019 in all age groups. The research group has examined over 16,000 records and 2,608 full-text articles, including 366 trials covering over 36,000 patients.

Study: <https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/article-abstract/2762981>

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