Childhood Depression

Project Background

This title is based on the results of a project based at the Tavistock Clinic in London which set out to explore whether children and young people aged nine years to fifteen years suffering from depression could be helped using brief focused psychodynamic psychotherapy together with parent work and family therapy.

International Collaboration

There were also centres in Athens, Greece and Helsinki, Finland, and in this way the clinicians had sufficient subjects from which to compare the interventions and check for any possible cultural differences in the results.

Outcomes and Content

Most of the children and young people studied showed a noticeable improvement. The book contains chapters by the clinicians involved describing their work as well as a section containing the scientific papers that emerged from the project.

Purpose and Implications

It is hoped that this may encourage the use of similar approaches to working in the field, especially in these days when there is such a demand for psychological therapies.