Psychodynamic psychotherapy as treatment for depression in adolescence

This article presents a psychodynamic approach to understanding and treating adolescent depression, based largely on the manual for short-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy (STPP) for adolescents (11-17 years old) with moderate to severe depression, developed for the IMPACT Study from Great Britain. Although the authors make reference to longer-term psychodynamic treatments, the 28-session model (plus 7 sessions of parent/carer work) used in the IMPACT Study informs the psychodynamic approach presented herein. In the course of discussing the analytical framework for depression and the treatment, a single case study is presented throughout to graphically illustrate the clinical course and outcomes.