Mapping Adolescents’ Experiences with Depression and Psychotherapy Using A Mixed-Methods Approach to Tailor Youth Assessment
Abstract
Depression is a debilitating condition that is highly prevalent among adolescents. However, depression is often understood through a nomothetic lens, meaning that there is a tendency to measure general patterns of symptoms. This risks overgeneralisation that largely ignores the individual, lived experiences of depressed youth. We develop and demonstrate a mixed-methods assessment approach in which participants can identify and elaborate on what lived experiences are important to them in therapy. Participants were 21 university students (M = 20.5, SD = 1.3) who had attended some form of psychotherapy in the past 2 years. Participants first performed a statement-sorting task, in which they rate the subjective importance of youth-identified experiences of depression and psychotherapy. This task is followed by an interview on their reasons for prioritising statements. Descriptives of the statement ratings indicated that there was a high variability in how the statements were rated. Thematic analysis was conducted to examine this heterogeneity, and to explain why participants had different priorities. The generated themes concerned: 1) different rationales for prioritisation of problems when navigating core problems versus “minor” problems, 2) differences in the effect of trust in the therapist on the course of therapy, 3) the degree to which one’s mental health concerns are part of one’s identity, and 4) if and how individuals chose to accept social support. These findings underscore the variety in psychotherapy experiences, and suggest the need to prioritise different things in psychotherapy assessment through a tailored approach.
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BibTeX
@misc{chen2026mapping,
title = {{Mapping Adolescents’ Experiences with Depression and Psychotherapy Using A Mixed-Methods Approach to Tailor Youth Assessment}},
author = {Jennifer Chen and Bennett Kleinberg and Melissa De Smet},
howpublished = {PsyArXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.31234/osf.io/a7d35_v4},
url = {https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/a7d35_v4/},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Mapping Adolescents’ Experiences with Depression and Psychotherapy Using A Mixed-Methods Approach to Tailor Youth Assessment
AU - Jennifer Chen
AU - Bennett Kleinberg
AU - Melissa De Smet
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/22
PB - PsyArXiv
DO - 10.31234/osf.io/a7d35_v4
UR - https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/a7d35_v4/
AB - Depression is a debilitating condition that is highly prevalent among adolescents. However, depression is often understood through a nomothetic lens, meaning that there is a tendency to measure general patterns of symptoms. This risks overgeneralisation that largely ignores the individual, lived experiences of depressed youth. We develop and demonstrate a mixed-methods assessment approach in which participants can identify and elaborate on what lived experiences are important to them in therapy. Participants were 21 university students (M = 20.5, SD = 1.3) who had attended some form of psychotherapy in the past 2 years. Participants first performed a statement-sorting task, in which they rate the subjective importance of youth-identified experiences of depression and psychotherapy. This task is followed by an interview on their reasons for prioritising statements. Descriptives of the statement ratings indicated that there was a high variability in how the statements were rated. Thematic analysis was conducted to examine this heterogeneity, and to explain why participants had different priorities. The generated themes concerned: 1) different rationales for prioritisation of problems when navigating core problems versus “minor” problems, 2) differences in the effect of trust in the therapist on the course of therapy, 3) the degree to which one’s mental health concerns are part of one’s identity, and 4) if and how individuals chose to accept social support. These findings underscore the variety in psychotherapy experiences, and suggest the need to prioritise different things in psychotherapy assessment through a tailored approach.
ER -