A new international study found that treating depression in young teenagers may be more effective than in adults. The study, published in the journal Nature Mental Health, analyzed data from more than 35,000 young people to capture how depression symptoms interact throughout adolescence, proposing that intervening during the period could be key to preventing chronic depressive episodes.
Researchers from the University of Edinburgh and other institutions applied network analysis to study the connections between symptoms, calculating the "network temperature" to capture how fixed or flexible symptom patterns are. The researchers found that interactions between depressive symptoms—such as sadness, fatigue, and a lack of interest—are less predictable in teenagers but become more fixed in adults, which can lead to persistent depression.
"Targeted support for young teenagers while symptoms are flexible and more responsive to treatment could help to prevent persistent depression into adulthood," the researchers said, emphasizing that support during adolescence, when symptoms are still unstable, can be especially effective.
"What's exciting about this study is the introduction of a novel approach to capture how depression symptoms interact and evolve over time, offering a fresh lens for understanding mental health in young people. It's surprising to see how symptom patterns shift so significantly during early adolescence, highlighting the importance of timing for personalised, age-appropriate care. This insight could extend to other conditions like anxiety and help pinpoint critical intervention windows, especially during puberty," said Poppy Grimes, study lead and PhD student from the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, according to EurekAlert.
Unlike traditional models that measure depression as a sum of symptoms, the research focused on how symptoms relate to each other and evolve over time, offering a more dynamic and personalized understanding of depression. The researchers observed how common depression symptoms like deep sadness, constant fatigue, and loss of interest in daily activities interact with each other. Over time, these symptoms begin to stabilize, forming more rigid and difficult-to-modify patterns. Once symptoms connect stably, the psychological system becomes less sensitive to changing factors, both positive and negative.
The study also found differences between adolescent boys and girls. Researchers discovered that among teenagers, depression symptoms stabilize faster in boys than in girls, leaving less time for external interventions to have an effect. Symptoms in teenage girls continue to fluctuate for a longer period, possibly due to hormonal, social, or brain development factors, allowing more time for external factors—both protective and risky—to influence the development of the condition. The fluctuation in symptoms could offer a broader therapeutic window for girls.
Experts say the variability seen in teen depression is likely to be influenced by three main factors: puberty and hormones, ongoing brain development, and social and environmental influences. During adolescence, emotional and brain plasticity is high, making the environment, social supports, and psychological therapies have a much greater impact than in later life stages.
The study borrowed and applied an understanding of how temperature affects matter from physics to the analysis of depressive symptoms. As temperature rises, particles move more freely and the system becomes less stable, which can be seen as matter changes from solid to liquid to gas. The analogy helped researchers understand the flexibility of symptom patterns in adolescents.
The findings show the importance of targeting depression at an early age, when symptoms are still changing, as early intervention could change the way the complex mental illness is approached. "The message is clear: acting early could make a lasting difference in the mental health of thousands of people," the researchers stated.
This approach opens new possibilities for designing more specific treatments focused on the needs and dynamics of young people. Experts warn that more research is needed to confirm the clinical implications and explore how the knowledge can be used to design more effective and personalized treatments.
The findings could also help explain why some adults with stable symptoms that are unable to change tend to experience depression that is resistant to treatment. The knowledge could also be applied to other mental disorders like anxiety.
The research team included scientists from the University of Strathclyde, University College London, Karolinska Institute, and the National University of Singapore, led by the University of Edinburgh.
The article was written with the assistance of a news analysis system.