Prevention strategies for adolescent depression

Adolescent depression is a serious and relatively common mood disorder with an estimated 1-year prevalence of between 4 and 5% (Thapar 2012). The prevention of depression in young people is important not only because it is distressing for the individual, family and carers, but because it is also associated with considerable social, educational and occupational impairment as well as poor physical health (Thapar 2012). It is a major risk factor for self-harm and completed suicide (Gould 2003). In fact, suicide is the second-to-third leading cause of death in adolescents (Windfuhr 2008; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2009). All adolescents with risk factors for depression (see below) who experience depression during adolescence have an increased risk of illness recurrence during early adulthood (Lewinsohn 2000). There has been growing interest in the use of educational and psychological interventions in clinics, schools and communities to prevent adolescent depression (Merry 2011). Some of the topics covered in this article will be of particular interest for child and adolescent psychiatrists, but this is an area which crosses the divide between adolescent and adult services and so should be of interest to all psychiatrists.