Special treatment could help teens battling depression due to rumination, overthinking
BOSTON - A special type of treatment could help teenagers who suffer from depression and it does not involve medication.
Rumination or overthinking is a common feature of depression in which people get stuck in a cycle of negative thoughts.
Rumination Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or RF-CBT has been shown to help in adults, but what about teenagers?
Researchers at Ohio State University randomized 76 teens ages 14 to 17 with a history of depression to receive 10 to 14 sessions of RF-CBT or any standard treatment.
The teens given RF-CBT reported ruminating significantly less, and brain scans in these teens showed a shift in brain connectivity.
The study suggests that this type of therapy can help teens break out of the "painful mental loops" that contribute to depression.