Can less yield more? Behavioral activation for adolescent depression.

Abstract

The report by Ritschel et al. (2016) demonstrates that Behavioral Activation (BA) has significant promise as an effective intervention for adolescent major depression. At a minimum, confirmation of this finding in controlled trials would increase the available treatments for depression in young people. BA may also be more attractive to adolescents, especially younger adolescents, than models of cognitive‐behavior therapy (CBT) that place greater emphasis on cognitive change. A more general attraction of BA is its relative simplicity, in comparison with the CBT models used in recent major trials, all of which involved multiple skill‐training modules. The theoretical basis of BA lends itself to studies of mechanisms of therapeutic change, and may also prove to be useful within a Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) framework.

Explaining the efficacy of an internet-based behavioral activation intervention for major depression: A mechanistic study of a randomized-controlled trial

“…Therefore, actively engaging in behavioral activation can help to break the negative cycle of depression by promoting meaningful and adaptive engagement in life ( Martell, Dimidjian, & Herman-Dunn, 2013 ). This strong theoretical basis allows for changes in levels of activation and avoidance (i.e., the activation level) to be evaluated as the hypothesized mediator of change in depressive symptoms during treatment ( Curry & Meyer, 2016 ). However, two research gaps remain.…”