Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40491067›Full record

Trial reportJournal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines2025

Dynamics of depression symptoms in adolescents during three types of psychotherapy and post-treatment follow-up.

Madison Aitken, Sharon A S Neufeld, Clement Ma, IMPACT Consortium, Ian M Goodyer

Abstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Trial
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Madison AitkenCundill Centre for Child and Youth Depression, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4921-5462
Sharon A S NeufeldDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5470-3770
Clement MaCundill Centre for Child and Youth Depression, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada.
IMPACT Consortium
Ian M GoodyerDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9183-0373

Funding

Cundill Centre for Child and Youth DepressionHealth Technology Assessment Programme 06/05/01Wellcome Trust
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAccording to the network theory of mental disorders, psychopathology emerges from symptoms that causally influence one another and create interconnections and feedback loops that maintain atypical mental states. Analysis of symptom networks during and following psychotherapy may provide clues to some of the mechanisms through which change occurs. Youth with depression are an important population in which to better understand psychotherapy mechanisms because current evidence-based interventions for this population show only modest effects.

methodsParticipants were adolescents with major depressive disorder (N = 465; ages 11-17; 75% female) in a randomized controlled trial comparing cognitive behavioral therapy, short-term psychoanalytical psychotherapy, and brief psychosocial intervention (IMPACT, ISRCTN83033550). Eleven self-reported depression symptoms were used to compute two longitudinal networks: (1) treatment phase, using baseline, 6 and 12 weeks data; and (2) follow-up phase, using 36, 52, and 86 weeks data.

resultsDuring the treatment phase, all depression symptoms were interconnected. Symptoms of insomnia and fatigue showed the highest outstrength centrality (ability to predict other symptoms over time). In contrast, few symptoms were interconnected during the post-treatment phase except worthlessness, which had the highest outstrength centrality. Allowing network parameters to differ across the three treatment types improved model fit during the treatment phase and revealed that symptoms with the highest outstrength centrality varied by treatment type.

conclusionsIndividual symptoms may make key contributions to subsequent depressive psychopathology in adolescents. Longitudinal network analysis reveals that insomnia and fatigue predict other symptoms, allowing for consideration of specific mechanisms associated with depression treatment. The findings further suggest that negative cognitions about the self may emerge as a central putative cognitive vulnerability in those with a history of depression. Our exploratory findings also suggest that the three therapies (cognitive behavioral therapy, short-term psychoanalytical psychotherapy, and brief psychosocial intervention) may have achieved equifinality in part through different mechanisms.

Indexed as

Cognitive Behavioral TherapyMajor Depressive DisorderOutcome Assessment, Health CarePsychoanalytic TherapyPsychotherapy, BriefAdolescentChildFemaleFollow-Up StudiesHumansMaleadolescenceDepressioninterventionpsychotherapysymptomatology

Identifiers

PMID40491067
PMCPMC12571952

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.