Objective To explore the effect of the strengths-based cognitive behavioral therapy （SBCBT） model on self-esteem in adolescent patients with depression. Methods A total of 89 adolescent patients with depression， who were treated in the outpatient department or hospitalized in Hebei Provincial Sixth People's Hospital from August 2019 to June 2021 were selected as research subjects. All the subjects were randomly divided into the combined treatment group （n=44） and the sertraline group （n=45）. The sertraline group was given drug treatment， and the combined treatment group was given 8 SBCBT interventions on the basis of the sertraline group. Self-Esteem Scale （SES）， Hamilton Depression Scale-17 （HAMD-17）， and Hamilton Anxiety Scale （HAMA） were measured at baseline and 6 weeks after intervention to evaluated the level of self-esteem， depression and anxiety. Correlation between SES score difference and HAMD-17 score difference were analyzed. Results After the 6-week of intervention， the SES scores of the combined treatment group were significantly higher than those before treatment （F=189.91， P＜ 0.001）， and the scores of HAMD-17 and HAMA were lower than those before treatment （F=833.48，86.94； P＜ 0.01）； The scores of SES in the combined treatment group were higher than those in the control group （F=13.94， P ＜ 0.01）， while the scores of HAMD-17 and HAMA were lower than those in the control group （F=57.98，4.66； P ＜ 0.05）. The difference in SES scores between pre- and post-treatment for patients in the combined treatment group was （5.2±3.6） points， which was positively correlated with the difference in HAMD-17 （12.2±5.4） points （r=0.26， P＜ 0.05）， and did not correlate with the difference in HAMA total score （11.6±13.6） points （r=0.047， P＞ 0.05）. Conclusions It suggests that SBCBT is beneficial to improve the anxiety and depression of adolescent patients with depression， and enhancing the level of self-esteem.