The Thought Induction Psychotherapy Technique’s Clinical Effectiveness in Treating Adolescent Depression and Anxiety: A Randomized Controlled Trial

OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the clinical effectiveness of low resistance state thought induction psychotherapy (TIP) in treating adolescent depression and anxiety. METHODS: This study was registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR2600119490). One hundred adolescent patients with depression and anxiety admitted to hospital between January 2022 and December 2023 was randomly divided into a control and an experimental group, with 50 cases in each group. The control group received routine pharmacotherapy alone, while the experimental group received TIP technique as an add-on intervention based on the same pharmacotherapy with a treatment course of 3 months. Anxiety scores, electrocardiogram (ECG), liver and kidney function, and hematological parameters were compared between groups at each post-treatment time point. Analysis of variance, Kruskal-Wallis H, and Mann-Whitney tests were used for analysis. RESULTS: After treatment, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale and Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale scores in the experimental group were significantly decreased compared with those in the control group at 2 and 3 months post-treatment (p<0.017). The incidence of abnormal ECG in the experimental group was significantly lower than that in the control group (p=0.017). All the indicators of the experimental group were lower than those of the control group. Hemoglobin and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio in the experimental group were significantly higher than those in the control group at 3 months (p<0.017). CONCLUSION: TIP as an add-on intervention can significantly reduce the incidence of abnormal ECGs and the damage to liver and kidney function, alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety in adolescent patients.