Concurrent Treatment of Depression in Parents and Adolescents: A Case Example

The detrimental influence of parent psychopathology-and depression, in particular-on adolescent mental health has been well documented. Routes of transmission include both direct and indirect factors, such as poor parent-adolescent communication, ineffective parenting practices, modeling ineffective coping skills, increased family discord and stress, inadvertent reinforcement of adolescent depressed mood and suicidal ideation and behavior, and decreased treatment adherence. This paper introduces a novel treatment to concurrently treat both a depressed adolescent as well as a depressed parent. This approach improves upon traditional cognitive-behavioral therapy by targeting relational factors of each adolescent-parent dyad while simultaneously addressing each individual's depression. Principles of case conceptualization and treatment planning using this novel approach are illustrated using a case example.