Parental Involvement in Intensive Treatment for Adolescent Panic Disorder and Its Impact on Depression.

The present study investigated whether an 8-day intensive treatment for panic disorder in adolescents conferred a corollary benefit of ameliorating symptoms of depression. Participants included 57 adolescents between the ages of 11 and 18 who were randomly assigned to an intensive panic treatment for adolescents with or without parental involvement. Paired samples t tests and hierarchical linear models (HLM) indicated that participants' total depression score and scores on depression subscales declined from baseline to the 3-month follow-up. Additional HLM analyses indicated that the interaction term between age and parent involvement was a significant moderator in the negative slope for adolescent depression, with younger participants benefitting more from treatment without parent involvement than older participants with regard to depression symptoms.