Treatment of Depressive Disorders

The two most common treatments for depression are antidepressant medication and psychotherapy, provided together or individually. This chapter provides an overview of the classes of antidepressant medications and addresses how they regulate neurotransmitters in the brain. The chapter addresses the use of antidepressants in children and adolescents and the risk of suicide related to antidepressants. Several models of psychotherapy treatments, including treatment interventions extensively tested and found effective in treating children and adolescents with depressive disorders (e.g., cognitive-behavioral therapy, interpersonal psychotherapy) are described. Links are provided to access further information on these interventions. This chapter returns to the two case studies from Chapter 5 and discloses the actual outcomes that occurred.