Does it really matter which type of therapy you choose? In this Mind the Kids episode, hosts
Dr. Jane Gilmour and
Prof. Umar Toseeb sit down with
Professor Ian Goodyer from the University of Cambridge to unpack one of the most provocative findings in youth mental health research:
different types of psychotherapy for adolescent depression work equally well—but not for the reasons we thought.
Drawing from the landmark IMPACT trial (the largest UK study of its kind with 465 participants), Professor Goodyer reveals surprising insights that challenge decades of therapeutic orthodoxy. Using cutting-edge network analysis, his team discovered that the key drivers of recovery aren't what therapists predicted—they're
fatigue and insomnia, not the psychological symptoms clinicians typically focus on.
What You'll Learn
The Common Factors Debate: Why CBT, psychoanalytic therapy, and brief psychosocial intervention showed no significant differences in outcomes
The Speed of Recovery: Why most young people improved faster than any therapy manual predicted (often in just 6-12 sessions instead of 20-30)
Network Science Meets Mental Health: How symptoms influence each other over time—and why this changes everything about diagnosis and treatment
The Sleep Connection: Why addressing fatigue and insomnia might be more crucial than we realized for adolescent depression
The Role of Time: Why recovery continues for 12 months after therapy ends, with remarkably low relapse rates
Why This Matters
This isn't just an academic debate. These findings have profound implications for:
Clinicians: Rethinking assessment priorities and treatment planning
Trainees: Understanding what really drives therapeutic change
Researchers: Opening new avenues for investigating mental health interventions
Policy makers: Allocating resources more effectively in child and adolescent mental health services
Perfect for: Clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, therapists, researchers, students, and anyone interested in what really works in mental health treatment—and why.
From the JCPP paper ‘Dynamics of depression symptoms in adolescents during three types of psychotherapy and post-treatment follow-up’
Madison Aitken, Sharon A.S. Neufeld, Clement Ma, IMPACT Consortium, Ian M. Goodyer
https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.14175
