The credibility of case formulations for young people with mental health problems | C4C

Case formulation is a feature of most psychotherapy models and provides the patient with the clinicians understanding of what their key problems are, how they relate to each other and how they may have developed. Therapeutic alliance, improved delivery of the treatment rationale and patient understanding are all components of the case formulation process and evidence from wider research suggests that these features are linked to improved treatment outcomes. The aim of the research is to enhance the case formulation process in psychotherapy by understanding how adolescents explain their mental health problems. The proposed qualitative study will collect data from up to 30 semi-structured interviews with adolescent’s experiencing depression and/or anxiety, aged between 13-17 years. The data will be analysed using applied thematic analysis.