Citation

Rudan V, Tomac A. Medicus 2009; 18(2): 173-179.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Two extreme beliefs have been dominant for a long time, i.e. 1. that children and adolescents cannot suffer from depressive disorders or 2. that there are the so-called "masked depressions" or "depressive equivalents", which included different types of emotional and behavioural disorders considered to have depression as their main underlying cause. A major depressive disorder is a frequent and serious disorder, with the onset often in childhood. Dystimia is a mild, but chronic depressive disorder that may also start in childhood or adolescence. Depression is associated with an increased risk of other psychiatric disorders, poor academic, social and work functioning, abuse of various addictive substances and suicide. Psychiatric comorbidities increase the risk of recurrent depression, prolonged depressive episodes, and higher incidence of suicide attempts. They aggravate the functional outcome, reduce treatment response, increase the risk of other medical problems and reduce the possibility of use of mental health services. Depression and possible comorbidities should be recognized and diagnosed as early as possible in children and adolescents in order to enable the timely onset of treatment. The most efficient treatment is a multimodal treatment that is not focused on depressive symptoms only, but also on all problems in functioning. Medication is rarely, if ever, indicated as the only therapeutic strategy, isolated from psychosocial interventions, in the treatment of children and adolescents with depression. Multimodal and early treatment can reduce the risk of chronic psychosocial damages.

Language: hr

Keywords

Children; Depression; Adolescents; Treatment; Diagnosis; Course