Treating Teens’ Depression May Be Great for Parents’ Mental Health, Too
Early evidence suggests that treatment has a ripple effect in families.
I spent a lot of time in therapy as a kid, for depression among other things. On and off until I graduated high school, I’d “hang out” in the doctor’s office, playing Connect 4 before begrudgingly consenting to more intense discussions. The effect of these sessions was undoubtedly helpful for me. But one thing my self-involved teen brain never considered was that the treatment could improve my parents’ mental health as well.
Preliminary new research, presented at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association on Saturday, suggests that it did: When
