Primary and Secondary Control Enhancement Training

The Primary and Secondary Control Enhancement Training (PASCET) program is an eight-session child depression treatment program. The theoretical background for the program is based on managing depression through a two-process model of control. Primary control involves rewarding oneself by identifying enjoyable activities and making objective, modifiable goals (such as school achievement or relationships with peers) that conform to one's wishes. Secondary control involves rewarding oneself or avoiding negative thoughts or self-punishment by adjusting one's beliefs or interpretations in response to objective, nonmodifiable conditions (such as parental divorce). The approach of PASCET is that depression may be addressed, in part, by applying primary control when faced with distressing conditions that are modifiable and using secondary control when confronted with conditions that are not.

The goal of this program is to prevent and control depression among children.

PASCET has been evaluated in a single comparison group study conducted in the early 1990s (Weisz et al., 1997). The sample of 48 students was drawn from three elementary schools with a total population of about 500 students in grades 3 through 6. Despite the small sample size, the study used a randomized control design and retested participants nine months after completion of the program, finding significant and sizable program effects on reducing levels of child self-reported depression.