This study evaluated the role of bidirectional micro- and macro- level positive affect-related processes in the longitudinal coupling of depressive symptoms in parent-adolescent dyads. Using a measurement-burst design, including dyadic experience sampling methods (ESM) and monthly follow-ups over one year, this work investigated associations between (1) parental depressive symptoms and anhedonia and parental daily-life enhancing and dampening responses to youth positive affect; (2) parental daily-life enhancing and dampening and trajectories of youth positive affect, negative affect, and depressive symptoms across one year; and (3) youth developmental trajectories and prospective parental daily-life enhancing and dampening, and parental depressive symptoms and anhedonia at one-year follow-up. Participants included 146 early adolescents (52.1% girls, 47.9% boys; Mage[SD] = 12.71[.86]) and 139 parents (78.7% mothers; Mage[SD] = 44.11[5.08]). Parental enhancing and dampening were measured using a dyadic ESM procedure at baseline and 12-months. Youth completed monthtly questionnaires assessing depressive symptoms and trait positive and negative affect across 12 months. Parents reported on depressive symptoms and anhedonia at baseline and 12-months. Results showed that parental anhedonia negatively related to parental daily-life enhancing, and youths’ perceptions of their parents’ enhancing and dampening reciprocally related to youth emotional development across one year, with downstream implications for parents’ own symptoms of depression.

Although it is well known that parental depression is transmitted within families across generations, the etiology of this transmission remains unclear. Our goal was to develop a novel study design capable of explicitly examining the etiologic sources of intergenerational transmission. We specifically leveraged naturally-occurring variations in genetic relatedness between parents and their adolescent children in the 720 families participating in the Nonshared Environment in Adolescent Development (NEAD) study, 58.5% of which included a rearing stepparent (nearly always a stepfather). Results pointed squarely to the environmental transmission of psychopathology between fathers and children. Paternal depression was associated with adolescent depression and adolescent behavior problems (i.e., antisocial behavior, headstrong behavior, and attention problems) regardless of whether or not fathers and their children were genetically related. Moreover, these associations persisted to a subset of “blended” families in which the father was biologically related to one participating child but not to the other, and appeared to be mediated via father–child conflict. Such findings are not only fully consistent with the environmental transmission of psychopathology across generations, but also add to extant evidence that parent–child conflict is a robust and at least partially environmental predictor of adolescent psychopathology.

There is growing evidence of an escalation of depression in young people. In light of this, schools are increasingly being confronted with the challenge of how to best manage students with depressive disorders. Such management includes consideration of the academic, behavioural, social and emotional implications of the disorder. This article provides school practitioners and management with a review of what constitutes ‘best practice’ in school management of students with depressive disorders. It adopts the mental health intervention framework of the Institute of Medicine, considering how school-based intervention occurs across the four domains of mental health promotion, prevention, case identification and treatment, as well as maintenance of students with or at-risk of depression. It provides a checklist for practitioners at each stage of the Institute of Medicine intervention spectrum. Moreover, it takes the view that best practice in psychology is always evidence-based practice, although discerning a clear path through the available research is not always obvious.

The objective of this review is to summarise the evidence for mindfulness and acceptance approaches in the treatment of adolescent depression. The article begins by summarising the outcomes of three broad approaches to the treatment of adolescent depression — primary prevention, pharmacotherapy, and psychotherapy — in order to advocate for advances in treatment. With regard to psychotherapy, we restrict this to comparisons of meta-analytic studies, in order to cover the breadth of the outcome literature. In the second half of this article, we introduce the reader to mindfulness and acceptance-based psychotherapy, with a particular focus on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and the applicability with adolescents. We provide an overview of the philosophical arguments that underlie this approach to psychotherapy and consider how each of these might contribute to treatment approaches for adolescents with depression.

An increasing body of research in support of cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) for adolescent depression has emerged during the last two decades. However, it has been suggested that empirically supported treatments are seldom carried out in clinical practice. Although the reasons for this are likely to be diverse, it is argued that mental health services have an ethical responsibility to offer evidence-based interventions. Whether empirically supported interventions, such as CBT, are consistently offered to depressed adolescents attending Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) is currently unknown. A primary aim of this study was to survey the use of CBT for depression in a number of United Kingdom (UK) CAMHS settings. A postal questionnaire was sent to 117 members of the BABCP Children, Adolescents and Families Special Interest Branch, of which 44 completed questionnaires were returned. Descriptive statistics indicate that just over half of the organizations represented routinely offered CBT to depressed adolescents. CBT practice and the transportation of evidence-based research findings to CAMHS settings are discussed.

In this article I review the changes in thinking about childhood depression since the 1950s, with an emphasis on the struggles to find language for childhood depression. My interface with these changes is described, with a particular focus on the development of the Children's Depression Scale (CDS). Clinical applications of family therapy using the CDS in treatment of childhood depression are then illustrated with a composite case example. The idea is developed that depression in children can be seen as a blocked communication, and that increasing emotional expressiveness in families is an appropriate therapeutic aim and intervention. The relevance of the historical context to current practice is considered.

Based on a behavior-analytic interpretation of the skills acquisition process, a rationale is presented for augmenting a currently available cognitive-behavioral treatment (The Adolescent Coping With Depression course: CWD-A) with a newly developed therapy focusing on the interpersonal interactions and learning occurring in-session (Learning through In-Vivo Experience: LIVE). A description of the practice of LIVE is offered and the results from an initial feasibility study are presented. Using a single-subject methodology, two groups each consisting of 5 adolescents with significant symptoms of depression received the treatment. The intervention consisted of 16 2-hour group sessions occurring over an 8-week period. The first 1-hour of each meeting was taken directly from the CWD-A manual. The second hour was based on the LIVE manual. The adolescents who completed the treatment (n = 8) improved from pretreatment to posttreatment and those who discontinued treatment (n = 2) did not. Improvements were maintained at 3 months follow-up. The treatment produced strong group cohesion and both adolescents and their guardians rated the intervention positively. These results provide initial evidence of the efficacy of complementing CWD-A with LIVE.

Cognitive behavioural approaches have been used in the treatment of adult depression for many years, with much evidence of effectiveness. The paper discusses issues in the applicability of these techniques in interventions with depressed children and adolescents. Different models of CBT are discussed and a typical programme described using a case example. Work with parents, carers and other significant adults is emphasised.