Climbing-Based Therapy Trial to Test Bouldering Program for Depressed Adolescents

Researchers in Germany have launched a randomized controlled trial to test whether bouldering combined with psychotherapy can help adolescents with depressive symptoms. The BooSt trial, described in a study protocol published in BMC Pediatrics, will evaluate a manualized group program called Bouldering-Psychotherapy for adolescents, abbreviated BPT-J. Because the publication is a study protocol, it reports the planned design rather than any results on whether the therapy works.

The motivation set out in the protocol is a gap in routine care: according to the authors, there are currently hardly any validated group therapy programs for depressed adolescents in Germany. They also cite a recent meta-analysis indicating a moderate antidepressant effect of exercise in adolescents with depressive symptoms, along with four recent systematic reviews reporting positive effects of exercise interventions on psychological well-being, mood, and quality of life in this age group. Building on an adult version of Bouldering-Psychotherapy that the team says has already demonstrated its efficacy, the researchers developed the adolescent adaptation as a behavioral-therapy-based, manualized group program.

The study is designed as a randomized, controlled, prospective, longitudinal, single-blind trial with two arms. Participants assigned to the intervention group receive the ten-week BPT-J group therapy, while those in the waitlist control group do not receive the intervention during the initial comparison period.

Eligible participants are adolescents between 13 and 18 years of age with subclinical or clinical depressive symptoms. The primary aim of the trial is to investigate the efficacy of the BPT-J group therapy for treating depressiveness in this population.

Four data collection points accompany the ten-week intervention for all participants: online questionnaires filled out by the adolescents and their legal guardians at the start of therapy, immediately after the intervention group completes therapy, after the control group completes its own therapy, and at a follow-up twelve months after the intervention ends. On top of the questionnaires, structured video interviews are conducted at the start of therapy and immediately after the intervention group’s treatment period, adding an independent, interviewer-based measure of change.

The trial has been prospectively registered with ISRCTN under registration number ISRCTN79659949, registered on 19 February 2025. The article was published open access on 28 October 2026 and is marked as a study protocol, with the publisher noting that an early version is shared for faster access and remains subject to further edits before the final version of record.

Beyond testing efficacy, the authors frame the BooSt trial as addressing the limited availability of evidence-based group interventions for adolescents with depressive symptoms in routine care. They argue that if efficacy is confirmed, BPT-J could represent a scalable, manualized, and potentially well-accepted treatment approach that complements existing psychotherapeutic services. Given what they describe as increasing demand and limited access to psychotherapy, the group-based format may, in their view, support cost-effective implementation, reduce waiting times, facilitate peer support, and help reduce the stigmatization associated with mental health treatment.

These implementation hopes remain expectations rather than findings. The protocol itself establishes only what will be measured, in whom, and over what timeline; any statement about whether climbing-based psychotherapy reduces depressive symptoms in adolescents must await the trial’s results, including the twelve-month follow-up that will show whether any effects persist. The authors state that findings from the BooSt trial may inform dissemination and implementation strategies in child and adolescent mental health care, a question that likewise depends on data the study has yet to produce.

For now, the trial’s contribution is its design: a registered, controlled comparison of a structured bouldering-plus-psychotherapy group program against a waitlist condition, with multi-informant questionnaires, video-based interviews, and a year-long follow-up, aimed at one of the more persistent shortfalls in adolescent mental health services in Germany.

Subject of Research: A randomized controlled trial protocol evaluating bouldering-based group psychotherapy for depression in adolescents

Article Title: Bouldering-Psychotherapy for treating depression in adolescents (BooSt): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Article References: Luttenberger, K., Donath, C., Eversmann, L., Göttlicher, K. L., Scheuermann, J.-S., Brokmeier, L. L., Radegast, A., Scheufele, P., Lewczuk, P., Kiesel, V., Kuntscher, R., Meyer, S., Hulm, M., Schwarzkopf, L., Eichler, A., & Kratz, O. (2026). Bouldering-Psychotherapy for treating depression in adolescents (BooSt): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. BMC Pediatrics, 26(1), Article 1080. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-026-07935-8

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12887-026-07935-8

Keywords: bouldering psychotherapy, adolescent depression, randomized controlled trial, study protocol, group therapy, exercise intervention, mental health care, Germany, ISRCTN registration, psychotherapy access, BMC Pediatrics, depressive symptoms