How Effective Is School Counseling For The Treatment Of Depression In Children/Adolescents?

Dr. Mark Reinecke answers the question: 'School Counseling For Depressed Kids?'

ByABC News
February 28, 2008, 12:03 PM

— -- Question: How effective is school counseling for the treatment of depression in children/adolescents?

Answer: Well that's an interesting point as well, because there's not a lot of research on the role of school counselors and school psychologists in treating depression amongst children and adolescents.

Over the past five to six years though, it's been our sense that there's an increasing emphasis on the role of school counseling for working with depressed teens and young children. And what they tend to be doing now more and more is borrowing from their clinical colleagues who are doing work in IPT and cognitive behavioral therapy, and bringing those sorts of strategies into the school setting.

I think what we're going to be seeing during the years ahead is that these approaches which we can use in the school are going to be more and more-- more and more popular -- we're going to be seeing them more and more often -- but also I suspect that the evidence is going to be that their quite helpful.

The notion here is that if we can reach these youngsters early and just as the depression is emerging and try to be helpful in settings where they're comfortable, we're going to have better outcomes.

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