Posted on August 11, 2010

Giving teenagers with depression a feeling of control over their recovery may help the whole family make long-lasting strides. Research shows that cognitive behavioral therapy may help achieve positive outcomes for teens struggling with mood or personality disorders, and the technique is increasingly being utilized both in individual and group therapy sessions.

Known as CBT, cognitive behavioral therapy represents a class of therapies for treating addictions and mental disorders, with each technique focused on the outcome of changing a person’s thoughts toward a behavior. When a shift in thought toward the addiction occurs, it creates a change in feelings and attitudes, regardless of outside forces the person cannot control.

Robert Hahn, Ph.D., summarized the successes of CBT with adolescents in a report published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine. Hahn, representing the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that not only does CBT show positive results for adolescents with trauma-induced mental disorders, but the therapy may also lessen the chances that a teen will participate in harmful behaviors later in life.

CBT is based on a set of defining principles: first, a person’s thinking leads to their actions and feelings, not outside elements. A person can choose to change their thoughts toward addiction independent of other factors. A second principle of CBT is that therapists guide the patient toward articulating their thoughts, feelings and goals toward recovery – thus creating a team approach that is unique for the individual. Third, the therapy is educational-based, meaning the client is taught new ways to cope and react to stressors that trigger problematic responses.

For parents, CBT is different than traditional methods of learning. Instead of the standard rule-oriented environment and consequences for bad choices, CBT takes into consideration that teens with personality and behavioral problems may have a distorted perception of acceptable actions. If the teen shows inappropriately aggressive behaviors, CBT can include teaching positive statements that encourage the teen that they have the tools to solve a problem. The therapy can also encourage a teen to ask themselves about all their options in a stressful situation.

For optimum success, a teen must be at a level of cognitive development in which they can analyze a situation and accept self-instruction. A 2006 study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that in 11 studies using CBT with children and teens, all showed positive changes toward depression, the extent to which teens externalized or internalized situations, anxiety levels and stress disorders.

Additional researchers, including Mark Reinecke and peers at Northwestern University, have also praised CBT for treating teens with anxiety problems and depression. The therapy is also used in the Friends Program, a series of workshops for parents, teachers and therapists held across the globe for treating anxiety among young people.

Professor Paula Barrett, University of Queensland, a key researcher into the field of CBT for children and adolescents and Friends Program practitioner, describes CBT as establishing a sense of “emotional resilience” that helps teens recover from anxiety disorders or stress-induced problems and lays a foundation for preventing problems like depression when they become adults.

As further studies continue to show the promise of CBT in working with teens with psychological problems, the therapy may remain a preventative measure for helping teens avoid drug and alcohol addictions and lifelong depression.