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Depression and Suicide in Children and AdolescentsIn children and adolescents, the most frequently diagnosed mood disorders are major depressive disorder, dysthymic disorder, and bipolar disorder. Because mood disorders such as depression substantially increase the risk of suicide, suicidal behavior is a matter of serious concern for clinicians who deal with the mental health problems of children and adolescents. The incidence of suicide attempts reaches a peak during the midadolescent years, and mortality from suicide, which increases steadily through the teens, is the third leading cause of death at that age (CDC, 1999; Hoyert et al., 1999). Although suicide cannot be defined as a mental disorder, the various risk factors—especially the presence of mood disorders—that predispose young people to such behavior are given special emphasis in this section, as is a discussion of the effectiveness of various forms of treatment. The evidence is strong that over 90 percent of children and adolescents who commit suicide have a mental disorder, as explained later in this section. Major depressive disorder is a serious condition characterized by one or more major depressive episodes. In children and adolescents, an episode lasts on average from 7 to 9 months (Birmaher et al., 1996a, 1996b) and has many clinical features similar to those in adults. Depressed children are sad, they lose interest in activities that used to please them, and they criticize themselves and feel that others criticize them. They feel unloved, pessimistic, or even hopeless about the future; they think that life is not worth living, and thoughts of suicide may be present. Depressed children and adolescents are often irritable, and their irritability may lead to aggressive behavior. They are indecisive, have problems concentrating, and may lack energy or motivation; they may neglect their appearance and hygiene; and their normal sleep patterns are disturbed (DSM-IV). Despite some similarities, childhood depression differs in important ways from adult depression. Psychotic features do not occur as often in depressed children and adolescents, and when they occur, auditory hallucinations are more common than delusions (Ryan et al., 1987; Birmaher et al., 1996a, 1996b). Associated anxiety symptoms, such as fears of separation or reluctance to meet people, and somatic symptoms, such as general aches and pains, stomachaches, and headaches, are more common in depressed children and adolescents than in adults with depression (Kolvin et al., 1991; Birmaher et al., 1996a, 1996b). Dysthymic disorder is a mood disorder like major depressive disorder, but it has fewer symptoms and is more chronic. Because of its persistent nature, the disorder is especially likely to interfere with normal adjustment. The onset of dysthymic disorder (also called dysthymia) is usually in childhood or adolescence (Akiskal, 1983; Klein et al., 1997). The child or adolescent is depressed for most of the day, on most days, and symptoms continue for several years. The average duration of a dysthymic period in children and adolescents is about 4 years (Kovacs et al., 1997a). Sometimes children are depressed for so long that they do not recognize their mood as out of the ordinary and thus may not complain of feeling depressed. Seventy percent of children and adolescents with dysthymia eventually experience an episode of major depression6 (Kovacs et al., 1994). When a combination of major depression and dysthymia occurs, the condition is referred to as double depression. Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder in which episodes of mania alternate with episodes of depression. Frequently, the condition begins in adolescence. The first manifestation of bipolar illness is usually a depressive episode. The first manic features may not occur for months or even years thereafter, or may occur either during the first depressive illness or later, after a symptom-free period (Strober et al., 1995). The clinical problems of mania are very different from those of depression. Adolescents with mania or hypomania feel energetic, confident, and special; they usually have difficulty sleeping but do not tire; and they talk a great deal, often speaking very rapidly or loudly. They may complain that their thoughts are racing. They may do schoolwork quickly and creatively but in a disorganized, chaotic fashion. When manic, adolescents may have exaggerated or even delusional ideas about their capabilities and importance, may become overconfident, and may be“fresh” and uninhibited with others; they start numerous projects that they do not finish and may engage in reckless or risky behavior, such as fast driving or unsafe sex. Sexual preoccupations are increased and may be associated with promiscuous behavior. Reactive depression, also known as adjustment disorder with depressed mood, is the most common form of mood problem in children and adolescents. In children suffering from reactive depression, depressed feelings are short-lived and usually occur in response to some adverse experience, such as a rejection, a slight, a letdown, or a loss. In contrast, children may feel sad or lethargic and appear preoccupied for periods as short as a few hours or as long as 2 weeks. However, mood improves with a change in activity or an interesting or pleasant event. These transient mood swings in reaction to minor environmental adversities are not regarded as a form of mental disorder. Conditions Associated With DepressionRoughly two-thirds of children and adolescents with major depressive disorder also have another mental disorder (Angold & Costello, 1993; Anderson & McGee, 1994). The most commonly associated disorders are dysthymia (see above), an anxiety disorder, a disruptive or antisocial disorder, or a substance abuse disorder. When more than one diagnosis is present, depression is more likely to begin after the onset of the accompanying disorder, except when that disorder is substance abuse (Biederman et al., 1995; Kessler & Walters, 1998). This suggests that, in some cases, depression may arise in response to the associated disorder. In other instances, such as the co-occurrence of conduct disorder and depression, the two may arise independently in response to inadequate maternal supervision and control, raising the possibility that parental behavior may be a risk factor for both conditions (Downey & Coyne, 1990; Rutter & Sandberg, 1992; Harrington, 1994). PrevalenceMajor Depression Population studies show that at any one time between 10 and 15 percent of the child and adolescent population has some symptoms of depression (Smucker et al., 1986). The prevalence of the full-fledged diagnosis of major depression among all children ages 9 to 17 has been estimated at 5 percent (Shaffer et al., 1996c). Estimates of 1-year prevalence in children range from 0.4 and 2.5 percent and in adolescents, considerably higher (in some studies, as high as 8.3 percent) (Anderson & McGee, 1994; Lewinsohn et al., 1994a; Garrison et al., 1997; Kessler & Walters, 1998). For purposes of comparison, 1-year prevalence in adults is about 5.3 percent (Murphy et al., 1988; Rorsman et al., 1990; Regier et al., 1993). Dysthymic Disorder Suicide It has been proposed that the rise in suicidal behavior among teenage boys results from increased availability of firearms (Boyd, 1983; Boyd & Moscicki, 1986; Brent et al., 1987; Brent et al., 1991) and increased substance abuse in the youth population (Shaffer et al., 1996c; Birckmayer & Hemenway, 1999). However, although the rate of suicide by firearms increased more than suicide by other methods (Boyd, 1983; Boyd & Moscicki, 1986; Brent et al., 1987), suicide rates also increased markedly in many other countries in Europe, in Australia, and in New Zealand, where suicide by firearms is rare. Course and Natural HistoryMost children with depression experience a recurrence. Twenty to 40 percent of depressed children relapse within 2 years, and 70 percent will do so by adulthood (Garber et al., 1988; Velez et al., 1989; Harrington et al., 1990; Fleming et al., 1993; Kovacs et al., 1994; Lewinsohn et al., 1994a; Garrison et al., 1997). The reasons for relapse are not known, but there is some evidence that experiencing a depression leaves behind psychological“scars” that may increase vulnerability throughout early life (see below). The age of first onset of depression appears to play a role in its course. Children who first become depressed before puberty are at risk for some form of mental disorder in adulthood, while teenagers who first become depressed after puberty are most likely to experience another episode of depression (Harrington et al., 1990; McCracken, 1992a; Lewinsohn et al., 1994a, 1994b; Rao et al., 1995). These differences in outcome suggest that different mechanisms may lead to superficially similar but inherently different clinical conditions. Factors that worsen the prognosis for depressed children and adolescents include depression occurring in the context of conduct disorder (Harrington et al., 1990; Asarnow et al., 1994) and living in conflict-ridden families (Asarnow et al., 1994). Children and particularly adolescents who suffer from depression are at much greater risk of committing suicide than are children without depression (Shaffer et al., 1996b). The prognosis for dysthymia (Klein et al., 1997a) is unfavorable, with most patients continuing to feel depressed and to have social difficulties even after they have apparently recovered. The prognosis for double depressives (major depressive disorder plus dysthymia) is worse than that for either condition alone (Kovacs et al., 1994). Twenty to 40 percent of adolescents with depression eventually develop bipolar disorder. Factors that predict later bipolar disorder include young age at the time of the first depressive episode, psychotic features in the initial depression, a family history of bipolar illness, and symptoms of hypomania developing during treatment with antidepressant drugs (Garber et al., 1988; Strober et al., 1993). Causes Family and Genetic Factors Gender Differences Biological Factors Cognitive Factors There is uncertainty over whether this mindset precedes depression (and represents a permanent style of thinking as part of an individual’s personality), is a manifestation of depression that is only present when the patient is depressed, and/or is a consequence or“scar” of a previous, perhaps unnoticed, depressive episode (Lewinsohn et al., 1981). This pessimistic mode of thinking does not occur in children under age 5, which could be one of the reasons why depression and suicide are rare in early childhood (Rholes et al., 1980; Rotenberg, 1982). There is evidence that children and adolescents who previously have been depressed may learn, during their depression, to interpret events in this fashion. This may make them prone to react similarly to negative events experienced after recovery, which could be one of the reasons why previously depressed children and adolescents are at continuing risk for depression (Nolen-Hoeksema et al., 1993). Perceptions of hopelessness, negative views about one’s own competence, poor self- esteem, a sense of responsibility for negative events, and the immutability of these distorted attributions may contribute to the hopelessness that has been repeatedly found to be associated with suicidality (Overholser et al., 1995). Risk Factors for Suicide and Suicidal Behavior Controlled studies of completed suicide suggest similar risk factors for boys and girls (Shafii et al., 1985; Brent et al., 1988; Groholt et al., 1997), but with marked differences in their relative importance (Shaffer et al., 1996c). Among girls, the most significant risk factor is the presence of major depression, which, in some studies, increases the risk of suicide 12-fold. The next most important risk factor is a previous suicide attempt, which increases the risk approximately threefold. Among boys, a previous suicide attempt is the most potent predictor, increasing the rate over 30-fold. It is followed by depression (increasing the rate by about 12-fold), disruptive behavior (increasing the rate by twofold), and substance abuse (increasing the rate by just under twofold) (Shaffer et al., 1996c). Stressful life events often precede a suicide and/or suicide attempt (de Wilde et al., 1992; Gould et al., 1996). As indicated earlier, these stressful life events include getting into trouble at school or with a law enforcement agency; a ruptured relationship with a boyfriend or a girlfriend; or a fight among friends.7 They are rarely a sufficient cause of suicide, but they can be precipitating factors in young people. Controlled studies (Gould et al., 1996; Hollis, 1996) indicate that low levels of communication between parents and children may act as a significant risk factor. While family discord, lack of family warmth, and disturbed parent-child relationship are commonly associated with child and adolescent psychopathology (violent behavior, mood disorder, alcohol and substance abuse disorders) (Brent et al., 1994; Pfeffer et al., 1994), these factors do not play a specific role in suicide (Gould et al., 1998). Evidence has accumulated that supports the observation that suicide can be facilitated in vulnerable teens by exposure to real or fictional accounts of suicide (Velting & Gould, 1997), including media coverage of suicide, such as intensive reporting of the suicide of a celebrity, or the fictional representation of a suicide in a popular movie or TV show. The risk is especially high in the young, and it lasts for several weeks (Gould & Shaffer, 1986; Phillips et al., 1989). The suicide of a prominent person reported on television or in the newspaper or exposure to some sympathetic fictional representation of suicide may also tip the balance and make the at-risk individual feel that suicide is a reasonable, acceptable, and in some instances even heroic, decision (Gould & Shaffer, 1986). The phenomenon of suicide clusters is presumed to be related to imitation (Davidson, 1989). Suicide clusters nearly always involve previously disturbed young people who knew about each other’s death but rarely knew the other victims personally (Gould, personal communication, 1999). Consequences TreatmentDepression In studies that focused on relieving symptoms of depression in preadolescents, only one form of CBT met the criteria for a probably effective intervention. In the first study, the relative efficacy of two types of CBT—12-session group interventions based on either self-control therapy or behavior-solving therapy—were compared with a“waiting list” control group (Stark et al., 1987). Children responded to both CBT interventions with fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety, whereas the waiting list group exhibited minimal change. Because improvement was greatest with self-control therapy, this intervention was compared in a later study with a traditional counseling condition. Self-control therapy, enhanced by doubling the number of sessions, entailed social skills training, assertiveness training, relaxation training and imagery, and cognitive restructuring. Monthly family meetings were also added to both the experimental and control conditions. Children receiving self-control therapy reported fewer symptoms at 7-month followup (Stark et al., 1991). Among the numerous studies of adolescents reviewed by Kaslow and Thomson (1998), one form of CBT—coping skills—was judged probably efficacious. This intervention, based on the “Coping with Depression” course, was developed originally in Oregon for adults by Lewinsohn and colleagues (Lewinsohn et al., 1996) and adapted by Clarke and colleagues (1992) for school-based programs to treat adolescent depression. Compared with controls on the waiting list, adolescents who received CBT had lower rates of depression, less self-reported depression, improvement in cognitions, and increased activity levels (Lewinsohn et al., 1990, 1996). To achieve well-established status, as defined by the American Psychological Association Task Force, the intervention has to be studied by another team of investigators—which has not as yet been done. Pharmacological Treatment Recent research indicates that young people with depressive disorders may respond more favorably to SSRIs than to tricyclic antidepressants. The first SSRI tested in children and adolescents was fluoxetine. In a study of 96 outpatients over 8 weeks, 56 percent receiving fluoxetine and 33 percent receiving placebo were “much” or“very much” improved on the Clinical Global Improvement Scale. Benefits were comparable across age groups. Complete symptom remission occurred for 31 percent of fluoxetine-treated patients compared with 23 percent of placebo-treated patients (Emslie et al., 1997). A recent open trial of fluoxetine for adolescents hospitalized for treatment of major depression found it to decrease depression scores more effectively than imipramine, a tricyclic antidepressant (Strober et al., 1999), with the further advantage that fluoxetine was well tolerated. The safety of a second SSRI, paroxetine, was demonstrated in a multicenter double-blind placebo-controlled trial. Paroxetine was compared with imipramine and placebo in 275 adolescents who met the DSM-IV criteria for major depression. Preliminary results indicate that, mostly because of side effects, one-third of imipramine patients withdrew from the study, a proportion significantly higher than that for paroxetine (10 percent) and placebo (7 percent) (Wagner et al., 1998). One of the co-investigators of this study noted that paroxetine’s efficacy was superior to that of imipramine and placebo on the Clinical Global Improvement Scale (Graham Emslie, personal communication, October 1998). However, final conclusions about the benefit of this second SSRI must await publication of the outcomes of this multicenter study. In summary, psychosocial interventions for depressed children and adolescents indicate great promise, with several types of cognitive-behavioral therapy for the child or adolescent leading the way. With respect to pharmacotherapy, new studies attest to the safety and efficacy of two SSRIs. These promising findings are being extended in the recently begun NIMH-funded Treatment of Adolescents with Depression study. Bipolar Disorder Pharmacological Treatment Children experience the same safety problems with lithium as do adults: toxicity and impairment of renal and thyroid functioning (Geller & Luby, 1997). Lithium is therefore not recommended for families unable to keep regular appointments that would ensure monitoring of serum lithium levels and of adverse events. Patients who discontinue taking the drug have a high relapse rate (Strober et al., 1990). As yet, there are no controlled studies on a number of other psychotropic agents also used clinically in children and adolescents with bipolar disorder, including valproate, carbamazepine, methylphenidate, and low-dose chlorpromazine (Campbell & Cueva, 1995; Geller & Luby, 1997). 6 Major depression refers to conditions marked by a major depressive episode, such as major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, and related conditions. The word "major" refers to the number of symptoms. See Chapter 4 for DSM-IV diagnostic criteria. 7 The relationship between sexual orientation, depression, and suicidal thoughts and behavior is not well understood. Several studies suggest a link (Faullener & Cranston, 1998; Garofolo et al., 1998; Garofolo et al., 1999). |