level 3–4 for both psychodynamic psychotherapy
[e5–e7] and systemic psychotherapy [e7, e8]).
If treatment with fluoxetine is not possible or not
desired, escitalopram, citalopram, and sertraline are
recommended as alternative drugs (recommendation
grade B, evidence level 1 [e4, e9]).
Treatment with tricyclic antidepressants is not
recommended, as these have been found to be no
more effective than placebo (evidence level 1–2 for
amitriptyline, clomipramine, desipramine, imipramine,
and nortriptyline [e10–e13], evidence level
2–3 for nefazodone [e13, e14]) (strong recommendation,
recommendation grade A). Nor should paroxetine,
venlafaxine, or mirtazapine be given to
children and adolescents with depressive disorders,
as these have not been found any more effective than
placebo but are associated (particularly venlafaxine)
with increased suicidality (evidence level 1 [e4],
strong recommendation, recommendation grade A).
Moclobemide (a monoamine oxidase inhibitor,
MAOI) should not be given to these patients either,
as there is no evidence to support its use for this
indication (evidence level 3 [e15], recommendation,
recommendation grade B).
After a period of remission (i.e., absence of clinically
relevant manifestations) of at least two months’
duration, drug treatment should be continued for at
least six more months (recommendation, recommendation
grade B), as it has been shown, for example,
that 24–32 weeks of treatment with fluoxetine pre-vents and delays relapses in children and adolescents
(aged 7–18) more effectively than placebo (evidence
level 3 [e16, e17]). Likewise, the prolongation of
CBT for a further six months after ten weeks of acute
treatment has been found to be associated with a
lower cumulative risk of relapse than management in
a control group (evidence level 4 [e18]).
Discontinuation of drug treatment can be
considered when there has been a period of remission
of at least six months’ duration after the first
episode of a depressive disorder (CCP). The results
of treatment should be regularly rechecked by a child
and adolescent psychiatrist (CCP).
Treatment approaches with inadequate evidence
Other treatments that are used in current clinical
practice include the following:
● client centered psychotherapy
● art and music therapy
● ergotherapy
● youth welfare services
● repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation
(rTMS)
● vagus nerve stimulation
● sleep deprivation
● massage.
None of these methods are supported by adequate
evidence, however, as clinical trials are either lacking
or methodologically flawed (e.g., because of a
lack of case definitions according to a classification
scheme, lack of standardized inclusion criteria, or
lack of standardized assessment of treatment
outcome). Thus, no recommendation can be given
for or against any of these methods (strong consensus).
The putative efficacy of the botanical substance
St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum) has not been
documented in any controlled trial. Potential adverse
effects militate against the use of St. John’s wort
(agitation, dry mouth, nightmares) or agomelatine
(headache, dizziness, migraine, nausea, diarrhea).
There have not been any comparative clinical
trials of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) versus
other types of intervention. There have been uncontrolled
trials of ECT for children and adolescents
who have not responded to drug treatment, many of
whom have also had further complications or comorbidities.
Thus, ECT cannot be recommended for
children; for adolescents, it can be considered in
very severe cases of depression in which the other
approaches recommended in this guideline have already
been tried without success (evidence level 4–5
[e.g., e19–e21], recommendation grade 0).
Results of treatment
When the treatment is begun, its goals should be
clearly set and discussed with the child or adolescent
patient and his or her parents, guardian(s), and/or
other involved persons. The outcome of treatment
should be regularly rechecked. After at least four
weeks of treatment, the interim outcome can be assessed
by the patients themselves (e.g., with self-assessment
questionnaires such as the Depression Test
for Children [Depressionstest für Kinder, DTK],
e22), by involved persons such as parents (e.g., with
the FBB-DES questionnaire, e23), and by the treating
specialist (e.g., with the Kinder-DIPS clinical interview,
e24). If there has been no clinically significant
improvement after 12 weeks of treatment, or if
there has been no response to drug treatment (a significant
reduction of depressive manifestations for at
least one week) in four weeks, then the treatment
modality can be changed (CCP, strong consensus).
Children and adolescents with depressive disorders
who have no improvement after the first treatment attempt
can be treated with a different type of psychotherapy,
or with a different medication than the one initially
used, if any (fluoxetine, escitalopram, citalopram,
or sertraline), or else with a hitherto untried
combination of CBT and one of the medications just
mentioned. A switch from outpatient treatment to day
hospital care or to inpatient treatment can also be considered,
according to the recommendations of this
guideline (evidence level 5, open recommendation,
strong consensus). For older adolescents with a recurrent
depressive disorder, the national care guideline
for adults with unipolar depression (e3) should be applied
(CCP).
A child or adolescent with a depressive disorder
who is in remission, i.e., has had no clinically relevant
manifestations for at least 2 months, should
have regular follow-up by the treating specialist for
at least 12 months (open recommendation, strong
consensus). A child or adolescent who is in remission
after having had two or more episodes of a depressive
disorder, or who is at increased risk of relapse because
of stress factors that are still present, should
have regular follow-up by the treating specialist for
at least 24 months (evidence level 5, expert opinion).
Relapse prevention
The continuation of treatment serves to prevent, or at
least delay, relapses and recurrent episodes. It was
found in a randomized controlled trial of combination
therapy to prevent relapses in adolescents that
the risk of a relapse was significantly lower if CBT
was given for 36 weeks than if fluoxetine was continued
without any accompanying CBT (evidence
level 3; this RCT did, however, have certain methodological
flaws [e25]). As the evidence to date still
does not seem to permit any definitive conclusion,
the pertinent clinical consensus point (CCT) was
stated in terms of “good clinical practice”: persons
treating children and adolescents with depressive
disorders should
● develop strategies, together with the patients
and their families and other involved persons,
for the prevention of relapses and recurrent episodes
(CCP, strong consensus);
● inform about the risk of relapses and recurrences
and explain what disease features and
early-warning signs should be looked for;
● develop strategies, together with the patients
themselves, for what they ought to do in case
these features should arise.
With the patients’ consent, these matters should be
brought to the attention of their primary-care physicians
(pediatricians and general practitioners), who
are more accessible than specialists and thus tend to
see the affected children and adolescents when they
are in remission, rather than during an acute episode.
The goal of involving primary-care physicians is to
provide the patients with additional support in carrying
out the strategies that were agreed upon (CCP).
The need for further research
Many questions in this area cannot be answered because
of the lack of sufficiently informative comparative
studies of different treatments for depressive
disorders in childhood and adolescence (especially
in childhood). In particular, there is a glaring
lack of clinical studies in the German health-care
system; there have been no studies, for example, of
day hospital care or inpatient treatment, nor has there
been any study with a follow-up period longer than
12 weeks. All of the recommendations of this guideline
are based on the current state of scientific
knowledge and may need to be fundamentally revised
when an updated version of the guideline is
prepared five years from now.
Acknowledgement
The creation of this guideline was supported financially by the Erich-
Benjamin-Stiftung (a charitable foundation) and by the German Society for
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy
(Deutsche Gesellschaft für Kinder- und Jugendpsychiatrie, Psychosomatik
und Psychotherapie, DGKJP).
The authors thank all colleagues and organizations that participated in the
development of the guideline.
The authors also thank Katharina Galuschka, Lydia Unterberger, Chiara H.
Schlenz, Carolina Silberbauer, and Rita Rupprecht for their assistance with
the literature search, text versions, and administrative tasks having to do
with the development of the guideline.