Antidepressants for children and adolescents: an update.

Over the span of my career in child psychiatry, our understanding of the frequency of depression and anxiety in these age groups has changed considerably. In the mid-1980s, psychiatrists did not think young children could be depressed. It was assumed that depression began after puberty, with the incidence increasing to adult rates throughout the teenage years. When researchers actually began to ask children and adolescents, it turned out that not only does depression exist, but children are able to talk about their depression and the feelings of hopelessness and helplessness that so often accompany depression. A confounding factor is that we now know from research that parents often do not know if their children are depressed or anxious, but are good at identifying behavior problems. Therefore, parents are better reporters of behavior disorders, and children are better reporters of depressive and anxiety disorders.