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Treatment of Early Childhood Depression

NCT04708275 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 62

Last updated 2025-06-15

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Depression often occurs in early childhood. Moreover, later depression is frequently preceded by early childhood Depression (ECD). However, at present, there is a lack of evidence-based tratestments (EBTs) for ECD, posing a core research desideratum highlighted by both the American and German practice parameters for ECD. The current study seeks to redress this research gap, by evaluating the feasibility and dose-dependent effectiveness of manualized short-term psychoanalytic child psychotherapy (PaCT) compared to waitlist in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) among clinically referred 3 to 8-year-olds with ECD. Comprising 20-25 sessions in alternating settings (child-only, caregiver(s)-child, caregiver(s)-only), PaCT focuses on internal conflicts and representations underlying depressive disorders. PaCT targets the child-therapist relationship, using interpretative, play and mentalization-based techniques, aiming to elicit the interpersonal meaning of the child's symptoms within the child-caregiver relationship(s).

Conditions

Interventions

PROCEDURE

PaCT

Manualized Psychoanalytic short-term therapy (PaCT) for children with internalizing disorders, 20-25 sessions (1, 2). PaCT helps the child to resolve rigid conflictual internal representations/ working models by using interpretative and mentalizing techniques and drawing on therapeutic transference relationship with the child and the parent.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Technische Universität Dresden

    collaborator OTHER

  • University of Leipzig

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Kai von Klitzing, Prof.Dr. · University of Leipzig - Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
3 Years
Max Age
8 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2020-02-24
Primary Completion
2024-05-02
Completion
2024-05-02

Countries

  • Germany

Study Locations

More Related Trials

Entities

Diseases

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT04708275 on ClinicalTrials.gov