Treating adolescents for major depression can also reduce their chances of abusing drugs later on, a secondary benefit found in a five-year study of nearly 200 youths at 11 sites across the United States.

Only 10 percent of 192 adolescents whose depression receded after 12 weeks of treatment later abused drugs, compared to 25 percent of those for whom treatment did not work, according to research led by John Curry, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University.

“It turned out that whatever they responded to — cognitive behavioral therapy, Prozac, both treatments, or a placebo — if they did respond within 12 weeks they were less likely to develop a drug-use disorder,” Curry said.

The study found no such relationship when it came to thwarting alcohol abuse, however.

The researchers followed nearly half the 439 participants from the “Treatment for Adolescents with Depression Study” (TADS; 2000-2003), led by Dr. John March, chief of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Duke University Medical Center. TADS is considered the largest sample of adolescents who had been treated for major depression. (https://trialweb.dcri.duke.edu/tads/overview.html)

The participants analyzed by Curry’s study were ages 17-23 at the end of the five-year follow-up study and had no preexisting problems with abusing alcohol or drugs.
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