New standards for treating child depression

The guidance makes a number of recommendations, including: • Children and young people with moderate to severe depression should be offered, as a firstline treatment, a specific psychological therapy (such as cognitive behavioural therapy, interpersonal therapy or family therapy of at least three months’ duration). • Antidepressant medication should not be offered to children or young people with moderate to severe depression except in combination with a concurrent psychological therapy and should not be offered at all to children with mild depression. • Healthcare professionals in primary care, schools and other relevant community settings should be trained to detect symptoms of depression, and to assess children and young people who may be at risk of depression. Andrew Dillon, chief executive of NICE and executive lead for this guideline, said: “This guideline makes it clear that psychological treatments are the most effective way to treat depression in children and young people. It’s important that children and young people taking anti-depressants do not stop taking them abruptly, but we would advise people to talk their GP at their next regular review about whether a psychological treatment may be a more effective treatment option.”