Suicidal ideation and behavior are among the possible manifestations of depression, and the risk for suicide is intrinsic in the depressive psychopathology.1,2 When depression is associated with prominent suicidal symptoms, such as a recent suicide attempt, the underlying psychopathology may be more complex and the treatment response different, with respect to both efficacy and safety, than observed in depression without significant suicidal symptoms.
The efficacy of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI), cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), and their combination for the treatment of adolescent depression is well documented.3–7 The evidence, however, is in large part derived from randomized controlled clinical trials that excluded or restricted the participation of youths who recently attempted suicide. Most depression treatment studies have excluded patients deemed at high risk for suicide due to ethical and practical reasons as these patients are considered to be in need of more comprehensive treatment and intensive monitoring than usually provided under a research protocol. Consequently, clinicians have been left with incomplete information about the therapeutic benefits of interventions for depressed suicidal adolescents. This gap is especially problematic since depression is a major but malleable risk factor for suicide, and its treatment constitutes the main approach to suicide prevention.8
The Treatment of Adolescent Suicide Attempters Study (TASA) was an uncontrolled, pilot investigation to assess the feasibility of systematically treating adolescents who were clinically depressed and had recently attempted suicide.9 Participants in TASA received a thorough evaluation at study entry and were then treated with antidepressant medication and/or manualized CBT, which was developed specifically to address the suicidal risk with the aim of preventing recurrence of suicidal behavior (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Suicide Prevention; CBT-SP).10 The primary analyses showed that 12% of the patients experienced another suicide attempt during the 24weeks of TASA.9
In this paper, we report on the change in the ratings of depressive symptoms, global scores of illness severity, and level of functioning observed over the 24 weeks of treatment in TASA. The purpose of these analyses is to describe trends in depressive symptom change and to estimate, within the limitations imposed by the non-experimental, uncontrolled nature of the study, whether treatment response appears to be consistent with that reported in non-suicidal depressed adolescents.