Child Depression Program

The Child Depression Program at Massachusetts General Hospital delivers evidence-based clinical treatment to children coping with depression and related conditions. We also conduct research to advance our knowledge of the causes, consequences and treatments of depression in children. 

Our Services

We provide evaluations and treatment for children who are presenting with symptoms of depression. We offer a broad range of services, including:

• Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
• Parent training
• Pharmacological (medication) treatments for depression and comorbid conditions, such as anxiety and ADHD

Our Research

Our program conducts research in hopes of advancing our knowledge of the causes, consequences and treatments of depression in children.

Research by Dr. Uchida

Dr. Uchida’s research focus has been in longitudinal clinical studies and neuroimaging based works in pediatric mood disorders--namely major depression and bipolar disorder. Her overarching goal is to identify early risk factors of the development of depression in children through clinical indicators and neurobiological markers, in efforts prevent hardships associated with the onset of mood disorders in the youth. She has also been principal investigator in many clinical trials examining various treatment approaches in adult and pediatric mood disorders and ADHD.

Research by Dr. Eckshtain

Dr. Eckshtain’s research involves development, assessment and dissemination of evidence-based interventions for youth depression. Her research involves the study of parental and familial variables contributing to the development of youth depression and ways to target these variables in treatments. Her research focuses on the development of adaptive interventions, which provide clinical guidelines for selecting, combining and sequencing interventions to personalize the intervention approach. Dr. Eckshtain has been the principal investigator of several clinical trials for youth depression. Dr. Eckshtain collaborates with Dr. John Weisz from the Department of Psychology at Harvard University on meta-analyses of youth psychotherapy research.