Research > TEAMS
Teen Achieving Mastery over Stress [TEAMS]
Principal Investigator: William R. Beardslee, MD
About the Principal Investigator
Dr. William Beardslee directs the Preventive Intervention Project at Judge Baker Children's Center and also the Prevention of Depression Study. He has served as the Academic Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at Children's Hospital Boston and is the Gardner-Monks Professor of Child Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. In 1998, Dr. Beardslee was appointed to the faculty at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Read full bio.
Project Description
Adolescent depression is a problem of major proportions. It is a common disorder with a chronic, episodic course marked by frequent recurrence and considerable impairment. An estimated 20 percent of adolescents will have had a depressive disorder by the time they are 18 years old, with the average episode lasting between 6 and 8 months. A majority will experience another episode in their adult life. Furthermore, most cases of recurrent adult depression have their initial onset during adolescence.
The cost to these teens and families is high. Adolescent depression is associated with difficulties in school, interpersonal relationships, tobacco and substance abuse, suicide attempts, and a 30-fold increased risk of completed suicide.
However, there is hope. Part of a national multi-state study, TEAMS provides strategies to deal with stress and avoid depression to adolescents (ages 13-17) with a family history of depression. The TEAMS program is based on prior research conducted in Portland, Oregon in which researchers found that teens who learned such strategies by participating in cognitive-behavioral prevention groups had a significantly lower prospective incidence of depression over time. Families who enrolled in the TEAMS project were assigned randomly to either the active treatment condition or to a treatment-as-usual (control) condition. Teens whose families were assigned to the active treatment group attended 8 weekly sessions and 6 monthly follow-up sessions run by a clinician, where they learned classic cognitive-behavioral skills to cope with typical adolescent pressures and tensions unique to growing up with a depressed parent Teens in the control condition did not participate in any prevention groups. All families participated in the assessment process.
Currently, families who participated in the TEAMS project are completing long-term follow-up assessment meetings with our research team. We are currently seeking additional funding to follow TEAMS families over time, in order to learn more about any long-term benefits associated with group participation.