Mobilising for Anxiety and Depression in Adolescents (MADAD)

Community-based Psychological Treatment For Adolescents With Anxiety And Depression In India.

Anxiety and depression are leading causes of illness among adolescents around the world. Psychological therapies can help, but few people receive these.

Supporting non-mental health specialists to provide screening, therapy and referrals for anxiety and depression could help expand access to psychological treatment among adolescents.

In this project, we will explore adolescents’ and non-specialist workers’ own understanding of depression and anxiety in two Indian contexts (rural Jharkhand and Goa), then work with mental health experts from India and the UK to choose between candidate psychological treatments that have shown positive or promising effects on anxiety and depression in adolescents. We will develop systems to identify adolescents 

with anxiety and depression, train non-specialist workers to treat them under supervision, and refer them for further care when necessary. Finally, we will test our proposed identification, treatment, supervision and referral approaches in both Jharkhand and Goa to understand whether they are feasible and acceptable to adolescents, their families, and the wider health system.

We hope that our research will help increase the number of adolescents in India who receive treatment for anxiety and depression.