Feasibility and preliminary efficacy of behavioral activation for treatment of depression in autistic adolescents.
A dozen one-on-one Behavioral Activation sessions cut depression and lifted social skills in autistic teens without ID.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Menezes et al. (2024) tested a 12-session therapy called Behavioral Activation for Autistic Adolescents (BA-A).
The team worked one-on-one with 15 autistic teens who did not have intellectual disability.
Each teen set personal activity goals and tracked mood before and after sessions.
What they found
Depression, anxiety, and social skills all got better after the 12 meetings.
Parents and teens both said the plan was easy to follow and fit their lives.
How this fits with other research
Płatos et al. (2022) and W Vernon et al. (2018) also saw big social gains, but they used larger, randomized designs.
Their work extends BA-A by showing the same teen group can thrive under PEERS® or START programs too.
Dudley et al. (2019) used a similar 16-week one-on-one plan for emotion control and found the same positive trend, giving more weight to the BA-A pilot.
Why it matters
You now have a short, low-cost option for depressed autistic teens who may not want group classes.
Try adding BA-A’s simple mood-and-activity log to your current teen cases this week.
If progress stalls, you can pivot to the longer PEERS® or START protocols already backed by stronger trials.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Depression is common among autistic youth and has a significant negative impact on quality of life and day-to-day functioning. Despite great need for efficacious treatments, there are currently limited research-supported interventions for depression symptoms in autistic young people. This study tested a novel, behavior-based approach or psychotherapy for treatment of depression symptoms in autistic adolescents without intellectual disability (i.e. Behavioral Activation for Autistic Adolescents, BA-A) with 15 youth (11-16 years old). BA-A is an individually delivered 12-session therapy that was developed for and to meet the needs of autistic youth with depression. Results found that autistic youth and their caregivers were able to participate in BA-A therapy sessions, and clinicians were able to deliver BA-A in accordance with the treatment manual. Notably, results demonstrated that autistic youth depression symptoms significantly improved after participating in BA-A. Furthermore, anxiety symptoms and social skills significantly improved following BA-A.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2024 · doi:10.1177/13623613241252470