Childhood Depression: Is Medication OK?

Q.When a child is depressed, it can affect school performance, friendships, and family relationships. Many parents grapple with the problem on their own; some try family therapy. But antidepressant medications? Not much is known about their safety for children.

A.A small, new study -- one of a smattering that has looked at this issue -- finds that the popular antidepressant Celexa for adults works well in children, too. Celexa is also known by it's generic name citalopram. "The results of this study show that citalopram may help to relieve the suffering of youths with depression," says lead researcher Karen Dineen Wagner, MD, PhD, of the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, in a news release. She reported her findings at a recent meeting of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. Currently, there are no antidepressant medications approved for use in children and adolescents. "Unfortunately, there is very little information available about treatment for depression in children and adolescents," Wagner says. Previous small studies have looked at two antidepressants -- Paxil and Prozac -- and found them to be safe and effective in children and adolescents. Like Celexa, they are from a drug family known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs. In Wagner's randomized study, Celexa was used in treating 177 children and adolescents for major depression. The patients, aged 7 to 17, took either the drug or a placebo for eight weeks.

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