Teens to test depression treatment

Teenagers in Bath will test whether special therapy techniques can help combat depression.

Children aged between 13 and 16 in Bath and three other locations will be studied in a £1 million project.

The initiative will be led by internationally-renowned University of Bath expert Professor Paul Stallard.

It will be one of three projects backed by the National Institute for Health Research into the effectiveness of cognitive behavioural therapy in tackling depression.

Prof Stallard aims to test whether a school-based depression prevention programme, the Resourceful Adolescent Programme (RAP) which was developed in Australia, can reduce reducing symptoms of depression in high risk children in the UK. RAP involves sessions led by trained and supervised mental health professionals, with around a fifth of pupils per class likely to be labelled as of high risk.

Researchers will invite children from mixed comprehensive schools in Bath, Bristol, Nottingham and Swindon to complete a screening questionnaire. The scores from these will be used to identify and categorise children as either low risk, high risk of depression or probably depressed.