Treatments for depression, such as drugs and therapy, have mostly been tested in university hospitals. Researchers in New York found out what happens when you take one of those treatments to the streets—or rather, the schools.

What the researchers wanted to know: Does interpersonal psychotherapy in schools help depressed adolescents?

What they did: Depressed adolescents who were referred for mental treatment were eligible for the study. Kids were randomly assigned to the normal treatment for depression at their school or to interpersonal psychotherapy, a particular kind of short-term therapy aimed at relating the depression to personal problems, then developing strategies to deal with the problems. The therapists were regular school workers, including Ph.D. psychologists and social workers, who were trained especially for this study; all of them were trained to screen kids for the study, but only half were trained in interpersonal psychotherapy (the other half did whatever was their usual treatment for depression).

What they found: Adolescents who had interpersonal therapy had fewer depressive symptoms than those who received the usual treatment. They functioned better and were doing better with dating. Differences were biggest for the most depressed kids.

What it means to you: This particular kind of treatment seems to help kids with depression, even if it's performed in the school by regular school employees.

Caveats: Most of the students were female, so the researchers didn't have enough boys to find a difference between boys and girls. Also, the sample size—63 kids—is fairly small.

Find out more: http://www.depression-screening.org/

The American Academy of Family Physicians gives some tips on what to do if your child is depressed: http://www.aafp.org/

Read the article: Mufson, L. et al. "A Randomized Effectiveness Trial of Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Depressed Adolescents." Archives of General Psychiatry. June 2004, Vol. 61, pp. 577–584.

Abstract online: http://archpsyc.ama-assn.org/