Treating Depressed and Suicidal Adolescents: A Clinician's Guide

"Brent and his colleagues have produced a superbly written book that provides state-of-the-art information about evidence-based assessment and treatment of adolescent depression and suicidality. It is infused with clinical wisdom that will fully prepare the reader for treating these challenging conditions. This exceptional book is a 'must read.'"--Matthew K. Nock, PhD, Department of Psychology, Harvard University

"If you are looking for an authoritative, well-written, and practical book about adolescent depression and suicidality, this is it. The book is written by leading experts who not only are doing research, but also are in the trenches providing help to young people and their families. This is an excellent resource for psychiatrists, psychologists, and other mental health clinicians."--Boris Birmaher, MD, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Western Psychiatric Institute, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

"A unique contribution to the clinical literature. Brent is one of the most prominent researchers in child psychiatry. He and his coauthors present an extremely readable and practical work that is rooted in research but geared toward clinicians in any setting, from the emergency department to private practice. The case examples, handouts, and descriptions of key therapy techniques are invaluable; chapters on assessing and managing suicidality provide concise yet thorough guidelines. The section on developing a safety plan is excellent, and is sufficiently detailed that clinicians will be easily able to implement the procedures."--Anthony Spirito, PhD, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, The Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University

"This clearly written, well-referenced book is designed for those treating this difficult population of at-risk adolescents....The authors include rich case study contributions from their own evidence-based clinical practices, providing an impressively strong basis for the work....This book can be a valuable resource for today's psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, clinical social workers, advanced practice psychiatric nurses, counselors, and others who care for these depressed, at-risk adolescents. Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals."

"A well organized and detailed description of a method do treat adolescent patients developed by the Services for Teens at Risk Center (STAR-Center) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This book presents a straightforward management recipe with a complete framework easily applicable to most treatment settings....One of the greater strengths of this book is the numerous case examples described throughout the text to clarify specific tools and skills introduced to follow this treatment method. Another strength of this text is the inclusion of numerous worksheets (some reproducible at the Guilford Press website)...with easy to follow guidelines for clinicians and patients to work through....We recommend this book as a valuable asset for clinicians who work with depressed and suicidal adolescents. Its user-friendly apprach of incorporating psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy approaches makes it a handy quick reference to keep in the office. The emergency room mental health clinician will also likely benefit from the book's review of safety plan development and implementation, which may be particularly beneficial in the management of patients bring discharged from the emergency room."

David A. Brent, MD, is Academic Chief of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and holds an Endowed Chair in Suicide Studies. He is Director of Services for Teens at Risk (STAR-Center), a clinical service for depressed and suicidal teens. Dr. Brent has conducted some of the most important work on the risk factors for depression and suicidal behavior in adolescents, and has successfully translated that work into the development and testing of effective pharmacological and psychotherapeutic interventions. He has received research awards from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the American Association of Suicidology, the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the American Psychiatric Association.

 

Kimberly D. Poling, LCSW, is Clinical Program Manager at the STAR-Center. She has been involved in developing and implementing treatment protocols, training, and supervising cognitive therapists, both in Pittsburgh and throughout the country, and is an expert in the areas of cognitive therapy, diagnostic assessment, and suicide risk assessment. She has also served as a faculty member at the Center for Cognitive Therapy at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and in the Department of Psychology and Education of the University of Pittsburgh.

 

Tina R. Goldstein, PhD, a clinical psychologist, is Assistant Professor in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Her clinical and research interests focus on the development and testing of psychosocial interventions for children and adolescents with and at risk for mood disorders, as well as the prevention and treatment of suicidal behavior in youth. She has expertise in cognitive-behavioral therapy and dialectical behavior therapy.