"Just like talking to someone about like shit in your life and stuff, and they help you": Hopes and expectations for therapy among depressed adolescents.

OBJECTIVE

To explore hopes and expectations for therapy among a clinical population of depressed adolescents.

METHOD

As part of a randomized clinical trial, 77 adolescents aged 11-17, with moderate to severe depression, were interviewed using a semi-structured interview schedule. The interviews were analysed qualitatively using framework analysis.

RESULTS

The findings are reported around five themes: "the difficulty of imagining what will happen in therapy," "the 'talking cure,'" "the therapist as doctor," "therapy as a relationship," and "regaining the old self or developing new capacities."

CONCLUSIONS

Differing expectations are likely to have implications for the way young people engage with treatment, and failure to identify these expectations may lead to a risk of treatment breakdown.