Depression in Adolescents

Depression may recur in nearly half of treated adolescents.
The New York Times (11/2, D5, Belluck) reports, "About half of adolescents who recovered from major depression became depressed again within five years, regardless of what treatment or therapy they received to get over their initial depression," according to a study published online Nov. 1 in the Archives of General Psychiatry. What's more, the study "found that girls were more likely to have another major depression, which surprised researchers because, as adults, women have not been considered more likely to have a recurrence than men."
In their study of 196 teens, researchers from "Duke University Medical School, found that adolescents treated with fluoxetine (Prozac) alone, cognitive behavior therapy alone, or a combination of the two experienced the same recurrence rate as those treated with placebo in a five year follow up study, " the Time (11/1, Park) "Healthland" blog reported. "The teens showed a high rate of response to all of the treatments in the first few years, with 96% of them recovering from their initial depressive episode three and a half years later." However, "46% of those who recovered experienced another round of depression within two more years."
HealthDay (11/1, Gardner) reported, "Girls were more likely to suffer depression again than boys (about 58 percent versus 33 percent, respectively), as were teens with an anxiety disorder." Lead study author John Curry, PhD, theorized that, because girls "'have more anxiety...that might be the factor, because anxiety disorders also predicted recurrence. And it's generally true that girls have more anxiety disorders than boys,' Curry said."
In fact, overall, "teens who also had an anxiety disorder also had a higher risk of depression relapse (62% of those with an anxiety disorder had a relapse vs. 42% of those without)," WebMD (11/1, Warner) reported.
Children's mood, learning problems may be attributable to late night use of electronic media. USA Today (11/2, Szabo, Marcus) reports, "More than half of children who use electronic media before bedtime may have mood or learning problems during the day." In fact, "young people who used the most bedtime media -- from cellphones to video games -- were more likely to have attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, depression, and learning problems during the day," researchers at the JFK Medical Center Sleep Laboratory explained.