Antidepressant treatments in children and adolescents. I. Affective disorders.
Part I of this review critically evaluates antidepressants' benefits for children and adolescents with affective disorders. The effectiveness of antidepressants is characterized with specific references regarding diagnostic methodology, measurement characteristics, response definitions, recovery rates, length of treatment, and plasma level monitoring. Antidepressants' efficacy for depressed youths is quite circumscribed, and their superiority to placebo remains unproved. Their intriguing lack of efficacy in affective disorders is discussed based on methodological issues and from a theoretical perspective. Clinical and research implications are presented.
Ambrosini
P J
PJ
Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Medical College of Pennsylvania/Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute, Philadelphia 19129.
Bianchi
M D
MD
Rabinovich
H
H
Elia
J
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000145:classification / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008996:Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000494:pharmacology; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy*
D000928:Antidepressive Agents; D008996:Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors