Teenagers in treatment for depression fare better when therapists more quickly assess symptoms and adjust treatment as needed, finds a study in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Researchers followed 40 U.S. teenagers with depressive disorder undergoing 12 sessions of interpersonal psychotherapy over 16 weeks. Participants were randomly assigned to be assessed at either week 4 or week 8. After the assessment, those whose symptoms were not responding to the treatment were assigned to receive either four additional therapy sessions or the anti-depressant drug fluoxetine in addition to the standard therapy. On average, non responders who were identified after four weeks saw a greater reduction in symptoms at the end of the study than did non responders who were identified after eight weeks. Also, those who received extra therapy sessions fared as well, on average, as those who received fluoxetine. (Monitor on Psychology)

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