• Antidepressant medication has become a first line of treatment."Pills" is Copyrighted by Flickr user: blmurch (Beatrice Murch) under the Creative Commons Attribution license.
  
  

Antidepressant Effectiveness

• Although these has been far less research regarding the use of antidepressant medications in adolescents compared to adult studies, a 2007 National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) study concluded that a combination of psychotherapy and antidepressant medication is currently the most effective treatment for adolescents with major depressive disorder.
  
  

SSRIs

• Treatment is usually done with serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), a group of antidepressant medications that include fluoxetine (Prozac), sertraline (Zoloft), paroxetine (Paxil), citalopram (Celexa), and escitalopram (Lexapro). They operate by blocking reabsorption (or "reuptake") of the neurotransmitter serotonin (that controls mood, among other things). This makes more serotonin available to be used in the brain.
  
  

SNRIs

• For patients who do not respond to SSRIs may be placed on serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), a group of medicines that include venlafaxine (Effexor) They operate similarly to SSRIs, only they prevent reuptake of serotonin and norepinephrine (a neurotransmitter that effects attention and stress response).
  
  

Risks of SSDIs and SNRIs

• There is concern that the use of SSRIs and SSDIs may actual increase the risk of adolescent suicide. In 2004, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stated that antidepressant medications can intensify or cause suicidality in teenagers and young adults under 25 years of age. However, the 2007 NIMH study referenced above indicates that the potential treatment benefits using antidepressant medications in teenagers outweigh the risks---as long as the teenager is closely monitored.
  
  

Monitoring

• An adolescent who is prescribed an antidepressant should receive ongoing monitoring by their health care provider, but should also be monitored by their parent or guardian at home. The parent or guardian should make sure that the medicine is taken as prescribed, as well as watch out for signs of suicidal thinking or behavior, or changes in behavior, eating or sleeping patterns.