Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Depression in Adolescents

Running head: DEPRESSION
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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DEPRESSION
Introduction:
Depression is identified as one of the leading causes of morbidity around the globe.
Depression is usually identified in primary care and increasingly treated with an antidepressant
(Martinsen et al., 2019). In Australia, approximately 45% of people experience mental illness in
their lifetime (Siu, 2016). In one year approximately 1 million individuals are diagnosed with
depression (Zhou et al., 2016). While antidepressants are an effective medication to improve
the symptoms of major depressive disorder and improve wellbeing, few researchers’ exhibit
evidence of suicide ideation in the patient who is consuming antidepressants as pharmacological
interventions (Bress, Meyer & Hajcak, 2015). In 2004 a warning from food and drug
administration was given to the population regarding consumption and prescription of the
antidepressants, especially selective serotonin uptake inhibitors (Stübner et al., 2016). As
discussed by Bettis et al. (2014), serotonin uptake inhibitors initially worsen the symptoms then
reduce it. Consequently, in that interval, the patients with depression often experience suicidal
thoughts and tend to commit suicide. This paper will critically discuss an article to answer a
clinical question below.
Discussion:
Are non-pharmacological interventions such CBT more effective in the treatment of
depression than an antidepressant in adolescents?
Population: Adolescents
Intervention: No pharmacological intervention such as CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy )
Comparison : With antidepressant such as SSRI
Outcome : Improved symptoms, elimination of negative thoughts and elimination of suicidal
thoughts
Search strategy:
In order to obtain an answer of the clinical question, electronic databases such as
CINAHL and PubMed were used for accessing the articles. In order to obtain accurate

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DEPRESSION
quantitative journal, the key search term includes, “depression management in adolescents’
“compare between CBT and antidepressant in adolescents”, “the effect of CBT over
antidepressant”. After conducting in-depth research, quantitative research has been chosen which
the following is:
Clarke, G., DeBar, L. L., Pearson, J. A., Dickerson, J. F., Lynch, F. L., Gullion, C. M., &
Leo, M. C. (2016). Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in Primary Care for Youth Declining
Antidepressants: A Randomized Trial. Pediatrics, 137(5), e20151851.
doi:10.1542/peds.2015-1851
Abstract:
Study design:
Clarke et al. (2016), conducted a quantitative study such as randomized controlled trial
in order to investigate whether it is cognitive behavioral therapy is an effective alternative
therapy for an antidepressant in the primary care setting. As discussed by Bryman, A. (2017),
quantitative study, the especially randomized controlled trial is the most suitable study design in
order to evaluate the effectiveness of any intervention or treatment.
Study setting:
Although researchers recruited patients from different demographic level, no study
setting has been mentioned by the researchers. As discussed by Hoffmann, Bennett and Del Mar
(2017), the study setting is critical for conducting any research successfully since it provides
comfort to participants which further contribute to the successful data collection.
Participants:
From 2006 to 2010, the researchers recruited total 212 adolescents in between 12 to 18
years with depression were 68.4% of them were girls, 11.8% were the racial minority and 16.1%
of them were Hispanic with the inclusion criteria that all of them were suffering from depression.
Intervention or description of the test:
The researchers' randomized youth into 1: 1 ratio where the control group was
administrated with self-selected treatment such as antidepressant and intervention group were
administrated with selected treatment and cognitive behavioral therapy. Trauer et al. (2016),