Getting Adolescents Undepressed: an Efficacy Study of Group Cbt Intervention in Jaffna-sri Lanka and Coimbatore-india

Adolescence is viewed as a transitional period between childhood and adulthood, whose cultural purpose is the preparation of children for adult roles. It is a period of multiple transitions involving education, training, employment and unemployment, as well as transitions from one living circumstance to another. The term depression is used in normal and clinical sense. As a normal mood, depression is referring to a reaction to stress e.g., to grieve after the loss of a loved one. However, as a clinical term depression as used by psychiatrist describes a long period when a person feels very sad to the point of feeling worthless, hopeless and helpless. Moods and mind are beyond the control of a large majority of people. Cognitive explanations rose to prominence in dealing with these issues and as a reaction to the early behaviorists' failure to take thoughts and feelings seriously. For the past five decades, the cognitive theories have gradually integrated the behavioural framework into its fold. Depression is a commonest problem among them. There is a need to help overcome this scourge of adolescents by CBT psychotherapy.