Sustained remission of child depression despite drift in parent emotion management skills 18 weeks following Parent Child Interaction Therapy: emotion development

AbstractWhether effects of psychotherapies for depression are sustained after treatment is an important clinical issue. In older depressed children and adolescents such treatments have been shown to be sustained for several months. Rates of remission ranged from 62 –69% at 3 months–1 year in one large scale study. To date there has been no data to inform whether the effects of earlier interventions for depression in the preschool period are sustained. To address this, we used data from a randomized controlled trial of a novel early intervention for depre ssion called “Parent Child Interaction Therapy Emotion Development” (PCIT-ED) that has shown efficacy for depression, parenting stress and parenting practices. Participants and their caregivers were re-assessed 18 weeks after treatment completion. All study procedures were approved by the Washi ngton University School of Medicine Internal Review Board prior to data collection. Study findings demonstrated a high rate of sustained gains in remission from depression, decreased parenting stress and parental depression 18 weeks after completion of a trial of PCIT-ED in a population of young ch ildren. Parental response to the child expression of emotion, a key treatment target drifted back towards baseline after 3 months. Relapse rates were 17% and predictors of relapse were the presence of an externalizing disorder, a higher number of co-morbid disorders and poorer guilt reparation and emotion regulation measured at ...
Source: European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry - Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research