May 14, 2024

Can school based CBT help young people’s mental health?

With increasing prevalence of depression and anxiety in young people, there’s an urgent need to work out how best to support them and ensure that effective interventions are accessible for all who need it. So far, we’ve seen pretty muted results from school based interventions for mental health.

Researchers, publishing in Lancet Psychiatry, have carried out a randomised controlled trial to look at the clinical – and cost-effectiveness of a brief CBT workshop delivered in schools. They worked across nearly 60 schools and with 900 adolescents who self-referred into the programme, following them up at 6 months to assess the impact on depression symptoms.

Journalists came to the authours of the paper outline their study, what they found, and what this paper can tell us about the role school based interventions can play in supporting young people.

Speakers included:

Speakers will include:

Dr June Brown, Reader and Associate Professor in Clinical Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London

Prof Ben Carter, Professor of Medical Statistics, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London

This Briefing was accompanied by an SMC Roundup.