Cognitive behavior therapy for children with depression: Application, practical considerations, and challenges

Depression is one of the primary causes of disability among children. There are clear differences between a child and adult experiences of depression. Children find it difficult to verbalize their feelings and might require approaches that suit their cognitive and developmental levels. Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is an evidence-based therapeutic approach that has been impactful in depression. This chapter sets out to look at the literature surrounding CBT to understand its effectiveness and challenges for the management of childhood depression. The cognitive behavioral explanations of depressed children point out specific cognitive distortions, attributional style, and response style that make a child vulnerable to depression. Hence, CBT with depressive children needs to be adapted in accordance with the unique experiences of the child. Researches that have tried to demonstrate the efficacy of CBT on children with depression have reported that it is impactful in symptom reduction, preventing relapse, and addressing trauma. The therapist may encounter challenges while dealing with children who have suicidal tendencies, are nonexpressive, and children with limited cognitive development. It is recommended that the use of CBT as a preventive approach at the community level for children and deliberating CBT via online modalities can be encouraged to reach on a large scale.