Last update:
10-Sep-2004

Depression in adolescence is manifested at an increasing frequency, with detrimental effects on the personal and social life of the adolescent and it is directly related to the risk of attempted suicide. Before the 1980s, depression in adolescents was not commonly referred to, as its atypical clinical picture was perceived as the crisis of adolescence. Its outcome was expected to be propitious and its treatment was related to the end of the adolescent period. The spectacular increase of suicide attempts and actual suicide during adolescence led to numerous studies on the epidemiology, clinical picture, pathogenesis and treatment of depression in adolescence. It has been demonstrated that the manifestation of depression in adolescence is common, its clinical picture shows special characteristics that differentiate it from adult depression, and there is an increased danger of continuation of the pathology into adult life. A variety of genetic, familial, demographic, psychosocial, cognitive and biological factors are correlated with the onset and the development of the disorder. In attempting to treat depression various cognitive, behavioral, psychoanalytic and systemic approaches have been proposed either in conjunction with pharmacotherapy or not, with contradictory results. The importance of depression in adolescence demands far greater concentration on its diagnostic assessment and therapeutic intervention. Identifying depression in adolescence is difficult due to both the attitude of the adolescent, who does not seek help for this problem and the perception of the adults, parents, teachers and doctors, who observe mainly the external behavioral disturbances and not the anxious or depressive emotions of the adolescent. Therapeutic intervention needs to be focused on the adolescent but at the same time to involve the family, which may be a factor in the pathogenesis and development of the disorder and on which the adolescent is directly dependent during this crucial phase of life.

Key words: Adolescence, Crisis of adolescence, Depression, Suicide.