Topic “Depression”

Depression is one of the most common mental health problems, and is characterized by feelings of sadness or despair that last for at least two weeks and often impair a person's ability to carry out their normal responsibilities in life. Dysthymia resembles depression but has a longer duration. Bipolar disorder is characterized by alternating cycles of lows (depression) and highs (mania or hypomania). Cyclothymia is marked by cycles of low-level depression and hypomania (which is typically shorter in length and less severe than mania).

Systems of Support

Systems of Support (S.O.S.) is a research study that provides treatment for childhood depression. Funded by the National Institutes of Health, the aim of the S.O.S. Program is to learn new and better ways for treating childhood depression. In this safe, supportive, and confidential study, experienced therapists work with your child and family to improve depression and quality of life. A multi-site treatment study located at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Boston University (BU), the S.O.S. Program welcomes as participants children 8-12 years of age with childhood depression and at least one parent willing to take part in treatment.

 

Children eligible for the study will participate in one of two therapeutic programs designed to treat childhood depression:

  • One program focuses on individual treatment in which the child will work one-on-one with a therapist. The goal is to provide emotional support and to encourage healthy behavior and coping.
  • The other treatment program focuses on working with the family to help the child and parents work together to solve problems. The goal is to strengthen the child’s coping and teach the family how best to encourage their child’s healthy behavior.

 

Project Overview and Aims

 

Building on our prior work in which we developed a manualized Family Focused Treatment (FFT), we propose a 2-site randomized controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy of FFT for childhood depressive disorders, as compared to an individual psychotherapy approach similar to standard community care.
The procedure involving human subjects will proceed as follows: we will enroll 140 school-aged depressed youth diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorders and/or Dysthymic Disorder drawn from two sites: Boston University and UCLA. Participants will randomly be assigned into one of two conditions:

  1. Family Focused Treatment (FFT) or
  2. Individual Psychotherapy modeled after standard community care (IP).

 

Intervention effects will be evaluated at baseline, at an assessment following a 14-week intervention, and at a 9-month post-treatment follow-up assessment.

The baseline assessment will be done after explaining the study to the potential subjects and their parent(s), and then getting proper consent from both the parent and the youth. The subject and parents will then be interviewed and given questionnaires. Baseline assessments will last about three hours. If the child meets criteria, the family will be randomly assigned to either FFT or IP. Assignment to treatment groups will be on a random basis, and this is emphasized in the informed consent. The psychosocial treatment phase will begin about 1-2 weeks after completing the initial assessment. Psychosocial treatment will consist of roughly 1 hour sessions that will be administered for 14 weeks.

The FFT treatment is an intervention that involves five modules: psychoeducation, communication training, fun activities planning, problem-solving skills training, and termination. During each phase, concepts will be introduced slowly to help reduce children’s anxiety and to increase generalization of skills and concepts. On the other hand, IP reflects treatment in usual care settings. The therapist will conduct individual sessions with the child in a space designed to enhance child-based treatments (with toys, art supplies, etc). Therapeutic goals will be addressed through reflection of feelings and understanding the child’s perception of the context of expressed feelings.

Overview

Youth Stress & Mood Program. A Depression & Suicide Prevention Program offers a Medical Psychology Externship program at UCLA's Semel Institute. This is a 12-month training program for graduate students. Will consider applicants with at least 2 years of graduate education in clinical psychology who are in good standing. The emphasis of the program is on training focused on youth depression, suicide prevention, and reducing health risk behaviors (e.g. Obesity risk, substance use, smoking, risky sex).
Supervised experience is available in diagnostic evaluations, cognitive-behavior therapy, family education and treatment, individual and group treatment approaches, and other interventions. The emphasis is on evidence-based evaluation, treatment, and clinical decision making. The program provides clinical training within the context of a clinical service with a strong research component. Treatment and services trials are in progress funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and other organizations. Theses projects focus on suicide and suicide attempt prevention, treatment of youth depression, and improving health and reducing health risk behaviors

Instructor(s): 
Joan Asarnow