Childhood and Adolescent Depression

t any given time, up to 15 per-cent of children and adolescents have some symptoms of depres-sion. Five percent of those nine to 17 years of age meet the criteria for major depressive disorder,1,2 and 3 percent of adolescents have dysthymic disorder.3 The incidence of depressive disorders markedly increases after puberty. By 14 years of age, depressive disorders are more than twice as common in girls as in boys, possibly because of differences in coping styles or hormonal changes during puberty.4 Adolescent depres-sive disorders often have a chronic, waxing-and-waning course, and there is a two- t