When I first began studying depression almost 50 years ago, there was very little in the way of good treatment available.  That’s part of what drew me into focusing on depression – it’s the most common mood disorder on the planet and no one really knew how to treat it reliably and effectively. The primary goal, then, was to develop good treatments. Thinking in terms of prevention was sheer fantasy at the time!

Now, all these years later, depression isn’t the mystery it once was and we know a lot about good treatments. This has opened the door to addressing the question as to whether these approaches can be used preventively. The short answer is yes, yes, yes! It is not theoretical. In fact, depression prevention programs have been successfully implemented in a wide variety of contexts including schools (all grades), businesses, and organizations. These depression prevention programs teach the very skills mentioned in the previous section on psychotherapy approaches.

It’s impressive to see the results with every group that has been exposed to these life skills and how well they fare when facing adversities compared to people who have never had such training. What’s especially impressive is when these skills have been taught to younger children who have grown up using them.

The long-term studies of depression make it clear that the younger you are when you have your first depressive episode, the more likely you are to have depression recurring episodes throughout your lifespan. Teaching young people to be better problem solvers, better relationship partners, better thinkers, and better people can save lots of suffering down the line…and that’s what prevention is all about.

We can’t stop bad things from happening in people’s lives, of course, but we can do a lot to empower people to manage life’s challenges with skill and insight in order to avoid sinking into despair and hopelessness.