‘I’ve started my journey to coping better’: exploring adolescents’ journeys through an internet-based psychodynamic therapy (I-PDT) for depression

ABSTRACT

The need to account for adolescents’ views during the design and development of therapeutic interventions is well documented, yet there remains a paucity of research doing so, particularly among internet-based therapies. This study aimed to address this by exploring adolescents’ expectations and experience of an internet-based psychodynamic therapy (I-PDT) for adolescent depression. Fourteen semi-structured interviews were conducted and thematically analysed. From this, five overarching and interrelated themes were identified: ‘negative expectation’, ‘strong therapeutic relationship’, ‘significant commitment’, ‘facilitated change’, and ‘gained appreciation’. The prominent effect of personal characteristics was also evident, whereby those young people who were highly motivated, or less confident, spoke most positively of their experience. The findings support government policies to increase availability of digitally enabled models of therapy, by highlighting adolescents’ positive experiences. However, the impact of individual characteristics and working styles on adolescents’ experiences signals that internet-based therapies may not be suitable for all. Young people may benefit from a range of different treatment options, able to meet their various needs and preferences.

KEYWORDS:

• Adolescence
• internet-based
• depression
• online therapy
• psychodynamic

This article is referred to by:

Commentary on the paper by Molly MacKean et al.: ‘I’ve started my journey to coping better’: exploring adolescents’ journeys through an internet-based psychodynamic therapy (I-PDT) for depression, Journal of Child Psychotherapy, 49 (3)

View responses to this article:

Response to Maria Papadima’s commentary on MacKean et al. (2023) and Midgley et al.’s (2021) papers about an internet-based psychodynamic treatment

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Molly MacKean

Molly MacKean was a student at UCL and completed the MSc in Developmental Psychology and Clinical Practice.

Tanya Lecchi

Tanya Lecchi is a Senior Research Tutor on the MSc in Developmental Psychology and Clinical Practice at the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families, and a Senior Research Fellow within the Child Attachment and Psychological Therapies Research Unit (ChAPTRe) at the Anna Freud Centre/University College London, UK.

Rose Mortimer

Rose Mortimer is a researcher at the Anna Freud Centre for Children and Families.

Nick Midgley

Nick Midgley is a Professor of Psychological Therapies for Children and Young People, UCL, and Co-Director of the Child Attachment and Psychological Therapies Research Unit (ChAPTRe) at the Anna Freud Centre for Children and Families.