An attempt in New Zealand to establish through systematic review the worth of the many interventions designed to prevent depression in young people has driven researchers to the disappointing conclusion that the jury is out – and likely to stay there until the evaluation process improves.

Sally N. Merry of the University of Auckland in New Zealand and Susan H. Spencer of Macquarie University in Australia have reported that "the evidence falls a long way short of what is required for such approaches to be categorized as 'evidence-based' or 'gold-standard'." (For full report, see Attempting to prevent depression in youth: a systematic review of the Evidence)

Their scrutiny included studies in the US, Australia, China, and South Korea. Some, which targeted children likely to become depressed (due to family history or life circumstances), found positive results. However most research on programs offered to all children in a school showed only short-term benefits.

The studies they reviewed had a number of flaws. For example, most compared children who participated in a single prevention program to those who did not participate in any, and they asked the children themselves to report on their emotional states. Under such conditions, apparent benefits might merely be placebo effects.

In addition to calling for more – and better – research to establish whether preventing depression is possible, Merry and Spencer make a broader point. They note that many existing prevention programs aim to make children more resilient in the face of poverty, ill health, poor parenting and other problems are associated with depression. They agree that building resilience is important, but they also point out that improving the lives of children by dealing with broader social issues would go a long way toward halting the slide into depression.

Summary of "Attempting to prevent depression in youth: a systematic review of the Evidence" by Sally N. Merry and Susan H. Spence in Early Intervention in Psychiatry, Volume 1, Issue 2, Page 128-137, May 2007