Major Depressive Disorder

Paper Summary:

This paper reviews several important issues involving depressive disorder in adolescents. It also analyses several groups of literature related to the treatment of the disorder and discusses concerns about prescribing antidepressant medications to adolescents. In addition, the paper looks at how some individuals could potentially benefit from one treatment but other individuals might not, and how the selection of an ideal treatment for an individual involves considering individual differences such as age, sex and cultural background.

From the Paper:

"For a long time, many mental health professionals believed that depressive disorder was illness that only adults might develop because children and adolescents were too emotionally immature to be depressed (Mondimore, 2002). However, research has revealed that depressive disorder can be developed at any age. The DSM-IV (APA, 1994) indicates that a person who suffers from a major depressive disorder requires either a depressed mood or a loss of interest and pleasure in daily activities for at least a two-week period. These criteria for a diagnosis of depression in adolescents are mostly the same for adults. The question arises here is whether these symptoms displayed by adolescents are considered for a major depressive disorder. For example, listening to music with nihilistic themes or writing morbid poetry may not be rare among adolescents but it can be a sign of pervasive sadness (Powell, 2000). Also, other depressive symptoms found among adolescents tend to be overlooked and are often regarded as s sign of being lazy, stubborn or simply not trying hard as such behavioural characteristics of depression can also be normal in their age group (Mondimore, 2002). "

Sample of Sources Used:

• American Psychiatric Association. (1994). American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed). Washington, DC: Author.
• Andrews, L., Merry, S., & Altvorst, V. S. (1998). Down times : teenage depression, a guide for young people and their families. Auckland, N.Z: D. Bateman.
• Biederman, J. (1991). Sudden death in children treated with a tricyclic antidepressant. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. 30: 495-498
• Davison, C. G., Neale, M. J. & Kring, M. A. (2004). Abnormal psychology (9th ed). New York: Wiley.
• Emslie, G. J., Rush, A.J., Weinberg, W.A., Kowatch, R.A., Hughes, C.W., Carmody, T., & Rintelman, J. (1997). A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of Fluoxetine in children and adolescents with depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 54, 1031-1037.

More papers on Major Depressive Disorder:

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• Research Paper # 54213 : "Major Depressive Disorder: A Psychological Disorder"

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