Concurrent Treatment for Depressed Parents and DepressedAdolescents

NCT ID: NCT00951821

Last Updated: 2015-08-31

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 24 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2009-07-31
• Study Completion Date: 2013-12-31

Brief Summary

This study will develop an integrated treatment for adolescents who are depressed and suicidal and their parents who are depressed and have a history of suicidality.

Detailed Description

Depression, like many psychiatric disorders, has a genetic component that makes it more likely that members of the same family will have the disorder. Depression in parents, particularly mothers, may put the children at greater risk for depression. When an adolescent whose parent is depressed develops depression himself or herself, treating both the parent and the adolescent may be more effective than treating only the adolescent. This study will test a depression treatment that targets depressed suicidal adolescents with a parent or primary caretaker who is also depressed and has a history of suicidality.

Participation in this study will last 6 months. Participants will be randomly assigned to receive either concurrent parent and adolescent treatment or adolescent only treatment. For those assigned to concurrent treatment, both the adolescent participants and one of their parents will receive individual cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) counseling sessions and joint family counseling sessions. In the adolescent only treatment condition, adolescent participants will receive individual CBT sessions, but parents will not, and both will receive joint family sessions. Counseling sessions will last 1 hour and occur weekly for 3 months, and then every other week for 3 months. CBT identifies and attempts to change problematic thought patterns. All participants will receive medication consultation if necessary.

Participants will complete assessments at baseline, post-treatment, and 6 months after completing treatment. These assessments will include questionnaires and interviews about depression, suicidal thoughts, mood regulation, behavioral problems, and family. At post-treatment and the 6-month follow-up, participants will also be asked to give feedback about the counseling, medication consultation, and their satisfaction.

Conditions

Depression; Suicide

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: SINGLE

Study Groups

Concurrent treatment

Concurrent treatment - experimental condition: Adolescent participants and their parents will receive concurrent cognitive behavioral therapy.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Concurrent treatment

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Individual CBT sessions for parents and adolescents plus combined parent-adolescent family sessions, delivered weekly for 3 months in the acute phase and bimonthly for 3 months in the maintenance phase. The techniques used to teach cognitive restructuring and problem solving to parents will be similar to those taught to the adolescents, except emotion regulation skills will be added to the parent treatment.

Adolescent treatment only

Adolescent treatment only - Active Comparator: Only adolescent participants will receive cognitive behavioral therapy.

Group Type: ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Adolescent treatment only

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Individual CBT for adolescents only plus combined parent-adolescent family sessions, delivered weekly for 3 months in the acute phase and bimonthly for 3 months in the maintenance phase

Interventions

Concurrent treatment

Individual CBT sessions for parents and adolescents plus combined parent-adolescent family sessions, delivered weekly for 3 months in the acute phase and bimonthly for 3 months in the maintenance phase. The techniques used to teach cognitive restructuring and problem solving to parents will be similar to those taught to the adolescents, except emotion regulation skills will be added to the parent treatment.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Adolescent treatment only

Individual CBT for adolescents only plus combined parent-adolescent family sessions, delivered weekly for 3 months in the acute phase and bimonthly for 3 months in the maintenance phase

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Other Intervention Names

CBT for adolescents and parents

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Lives at home with at least one parent or guardian
• Speaks English
• Must have made a suicide attempt and be diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD)

• Speaks English
• Current diagnosis of MDD and a history of suicidality

Exclusion Criteria

• Judged to have developmental or cognitive delays or psychotic disorders on the basis of a standard psychiatric exam
• Diagnosis of bipolar disorder or a substance dependence (people with a diagnosis of substance abuse are eligible)
• Only one adolescent per family is eligible

• Diagnosis of bipolar disorder or substance dependence
• If taking antidepressants, not on a stable dose for 3 months

• Minimum Eligible Age: 12 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 17 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

NIH

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Brown University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Anthony Spirito

Professor

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Anthony Spirito, PhD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Brown University

Locations

Brown University

Providence, Rhode Island, United States

Countries

United States

Other Identifiers

R34MH082211

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: secondary_id

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DSIR 84 CTS

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: secondary_id

NCT00951821

Identifier Type: REGISTRY

Identifier Source: secondary_id

R34MH082211

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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