Intervention at an Early Age May Hold Off the Onset of Depression

Preventing initial episodes might stop depression from becoming a disabling chronic condition

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For researchers heading up depression prevention programs, the stakes of early intervention couldn't be higher. The earlier a first episode of depression begins, and the more episodes a person suffers, the more serious and disabling the condition is likely to be throughout life. People who recover from an initial depression have a 40 to 60 percent chance of a later episode; those with two episodes have a 60 to 70 percent chance of recurrence, and those with three episodes have a 90 percent chance—a vicious cycle that too often ends in chronic illness or disability. And since the COVID pandemic, teens' risk of falling into the cycle has climbed: 42 percent of U.S. high school students report lasting sadness or hopelessness in surveys by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, up from 28 percent a decade before.

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Brain changes during adolescence may make teens especially vulnerable to depression and the cellular havoc it wreaks. In a study from McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass., young people who experienced hardship such as emotional abuse at age 14 or 15 were more likely to become depressed compared with those who faced such adversity earlier or later in life. Prolonged stress, research shows, may be more damaging to the brain during this time—and another study suggests that early stress-linked brain changes may make people more vulnerable to depression.