Adolescent Depression Research Group

Adolescent Depression Research Group

Location and Contact Information

1051 Riverside Drive
New York, NY 10032
United States

Principal Investigator

  • Laura Mufson, PhD

    Profile Headshot
    • Director of Clinical Psychology, New York State Psychiatric Institute
    • Unit Chief, Children's Day Unit, New York State Psychiatric Institute/Columbia University
    • Interim Director, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

The Adolescent Depression Research Group, led by Laura Mufson, PhD, conducts research adapting interventions for new settings and populations as well as examining the effectiveness of evidence-based psychotherapies for adolescent depression and suicide prevention and implementation in community settings.

Our Research

Our research includes:

  • The evaluation of effectiveness outcomes of empirically supported psychotherapies for adolescents. 
  • Adaptations of interpersonal psychotherapy for depressed adolescents (IPT-A) to be delivered in schools, primary care clinics, and community clinics;
  • Evaluation of treatment engagement in minority youth;
  • Predictors of treatment response in depressed youth;
  • Training of non-traditional providers to deliver interventions in low-resourced communities and low and middle income countries.
  • Interventions for suicide prevention in adolescents

Support the Adolescent Depression Research Group

Lab Members

  • Laura H. Mufson, PhD

    • Director, Adolescent Depression Research Group, Viola W. Bernard Professor of Medical Child Psychology (in Psychiatry), Interim Director, Division of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
    • Dr. Mufson is the developer of the adolescent adaptation of interpersonal psychotherapy for depression (IPT-A) and is the leading expert on its use with depressed adolescents. She is also co-author of the prevention model (IPT-AST) and the model for prepubertal depression (FB-IPT). Dr. Mufson has authored numerous publications on adolescent depression, psychopathology, and risk factors for depression and suicide as well as articles and book chapters on the treatment of adolescent depression and interpersonal psychotherapy. Dr. Mufson conducts training workshops on IPT-A throughout the United States and internationally.

     

    • Dr. Mufson's primary research interest is in the evaluation of empirically supported psychotherapy outcomes and the identification of which treatments work best for whom. She is a principal investigator, co-investigator, and/or consultant with colleagues on numerous grants studying adaptations of IPT-A to be delivered in schools, primary care clinics, and community clinics serving minority populations, as well as models for prevention of depression and suicide. Her areas of expertise include the evaluation of empirically supported intervention outcomes in clinical trials conducted in research and community settings, implementation and dissemination of treatments into the community, and development of models for training community clinicians in empirically supported psychotherapies.  

Current Research Collaborators

  • Anat Brunstein Klomek, PhD

    • Professor of Clinical Psychology, Dean of Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Reichman University, Israel

  • Meredith Gunlicks-Stoessel, PhD, LP

    • Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota Medical School

  • Michael A. Lindsey, MSW, MPH, PhD

    • Dean, Silver School of Social Work, Dean and Paulette Goddard Professor of Social Work, New York University

  • Jami F. Young, PhD

    • Associate Chair of Research, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Professor of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

  • Kathryn Lovero, PhD

    • Assistant Professor of Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University

  • Carolina Velez-Grau, PhD, LCSW

    • Assistant Professor, Boston College School of Social Work