ABSTRACT
Short-Term Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (STPP) for adolescents is a model of psychoanalytic treatment combining 28 individual psychotherapy sessions for the adolescent or young person and seven sessions for the parents or carers, supported by supervision. As a treatment for young people with moderate to severe depression, it is rooted in psychoanalytic principles and practice and has evolved out of a long history of providing time-limited psychoanalytic work to adolescents in the UK. STPP thus evolved from a 30-session model of child and adolescent psychotherapy tested in two Randomized Controlled Trials: one for children who had been sexually, the other for children and young adolescents with depression. The long-term consequences of depression in adolescence are also striking, with an increased risk of self-harm, suicide, depression, physical illness, substance misuse, and interpersonal problems in adulthood. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
