Indications for and use of antidepressants in child and adolescent psychiatry A cross-sectional survey in Denmark

The prescription of antidepressants for children and adolescents is a controversial subject, and it has been documented that the practice has increased in the past decade in Denmark, the UK, and the USA. The aim of this study was to survey the indications for and use of antidepressants in child and adolescent psychiatry. Questionnaires were sent to all Danish child and adolescent psychiatric hospitals, out-patient clinics and privately practising psychiatrists treating children and adolescents under the age of 19 years (31 units in all). A 93.5 % response rate for the total of 382 questionnaires in the survey. The antidepressant serotonin selective re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) were the most prominently used agents in treating children and adolescents. The extent of their use represents 8 % of the total sample of individuals under the age of 19 years receiving any kind of psychiatric treatment – 0.03 % of the reference population in Denmark. It is only a surprisingly minor group of children and adolescents that are being treated with antidepressants despite the fact that 10 % of youth under the age of 19 are afflicted with diseases like depression, OCD, anxiety disorder and eating disorders.