Online programs can help counter depression in teenagers
| Nov 9, 2018, 16:12 IST
A recent study has found that online programs may be useful in countering depression among teenagers. Up to 20% of teenagers are affected by at least one depressive episode per year but doctors are still unable to come up with a proper treatment to help cure their depression. Now, researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago in the US have worked to come up with an online program to evaluate the teenagers' behaviour.
More than 350 teenagers from the age of 13-18 were enrolled in the program. Most of these kids either had depressive symptoms or had a history of depression. The program tracked the participants for two years and followed their depressive episodes. It was found that individuals who actively participated in the intervention program achieved as much as 80% risk reduction in experiencing a depressive episode.
“This study tells us that the online intervention works best for teens who are experiencing worse symptoms,” said Benjamin Van Voorhees, the principal investigator of the research. “We hypothesised that there would be a benefit across all participants, but it is perhaps even more telling to see such a significant risk reduction among a smaller group of high-risk adolescents. We need to move depression care away from reactive treatments to widespread prevention, but to be successful we need more research on which interventions work, and for what patients, in primary care settings,” he concluded.
More than 350 teenagers from the age of 13-18 were enrolled in the program. Most of these kids either had depressive symptoms or had a history of depression. The program tracked the participants for two years and followed their depressive episodes. It was found that individuals who actively participated in the intervention program achieved as much as 80% risk reduction in experiencing a depressive episode.
“This study tells us that the online intervention works best for teens who are experiencing worse symptoms,” said Benjamin Van Voorhees, the principal investigator of the research. “We hypothesised that there would be a benefit across all participants, but it is perhaps even more telling to see such a significant risk reduction among a smaller group of high-risk adolescents. We need to move depression care away from reactive treatments to widespread prevention, but to be successful we need more research on which interventions work, and for what patients, in primary care settings,” he concluded.