Depressed teens may need extra support to stick with treatment

National Public Radio

A recently published study found that “collaborative care” makes teenagers more likely to follow through with their doctors’ mental health treatment recommendations. Researchers in Washington divided 100 teenagers who showed signs of depression into two groups. The teens in one group were encouraged by their physicians to seek treatment, and the results of their depression screening were mailed to their parents. In the other group, each teenager was paired with a trained “depression care manager” who worked with the patients and their parents to develop a treatment plan. They also regularly checked in with both the teens and their parents for a year. At the end of this period, 86 percent of the teenagers who received collaborative care had begun recommended treatment, while the rate was only 27 percent in the unassisted group.

Spark Extra! Watch video presentations on “Behavioral Health in Primary Care: Clinical Strategies and Program Models for Working with High-Risk Youth.”