Teenagers with treatment-resistant depression have been offered a new option in a multicenter study led by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers. The study reveals that six months of switching medication or combining a medicine switch with cognitive behavioural therapy helped more than one-third of teens with such a depression variant, many of whom had been depressed for more than two years, revealed a


The study found that teenagers who showed an improvement of symptoms after just three months into their new regimen were much more likely to show lasting beneficial effects.

"This study provides hope for parents and teenagers that persistence in seeking treatment will lead to recovery in some patients, especially if early treatment is aggressive. Even after six months of treatment, however, about two-third of teenagers were still suffering from at least some symptoms of depression," said Dr. Graham Emslie, professor of psychiatry and paediatrics at UT Southwestern and a principal investigator of the study.

The 334 study participants ranged from 12 to 18 years of age.

They exhibited traits of moderate to severe major depressive disorder, including thoughts of suicide. Historically, these types of patients have the worst treatment outcomes.