Psychotherapy treatments for depression in children and adolescents

The authors review the literature on psychotherapy for the treatment of depression in children and adolescents, describing outcome studies in psychodynamic therapy, family therapy, group therapy, interpersonal therapy, and behavior therapy. The review revealed many limitations in study design; suggestions are made about the design of psychotherapy studies for the treatment of childhood depression. The current trend in the treatment of childhood depression is to modify treatments shown to be effective in depressed adults. Further systematic investigations are necessary before recommendations can be made regarding any particular psychotherapy for the treatment of depressed children and adolescents.