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Open Access 01-12-2016 | Original Contribution

Clinical characteristics associated with the prescribing of SSRI medication in adolescents with major unipolar depression

Authors: Lesley Cousins, Kirstie J. Whitaker, Barry Widmer, Nick Midgley, Sarah Byford, Bernadka Dubicka, Raphael Kelvin, Shirley Reynolds, Christopher Roberts, Fiona Holland, Barbara Barrett, Robert Senior, Paul Wilkinson, Mary Target, Peter Fonagy, Ian M Goodyer

Published in: European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry | Issue 12/2016

Abstract

Unipolar major depressions (MD) emerge markedly during adolescence. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) UK recommends psychological therapies, with accompanying selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) prescribed in severe cases only. Here, we seek to determine the extent and rationale of SSRI prescribing in adolescent MD before entering a randomised clinical trial. SSRI prescribing, together with their clinical characteristics was determined in 465 adolescent patients with MD prior to receiving a standardised psychological therapy as part of the Improving mood with psychoanalytic and cognitive therapies (IMPACT) clinical trial. Overall, 88 (19 %) had been prescribed antidepressants prior to psychological treatment. The clinical correlates varied by gender: respectively, depression severity in boys and self-harming behaviours in girls. Prescribing also differed between clinical research centres. Medical practitioners consider severity of depression in boys as an indicator for antidepressant prescribing. Self-injury in girls appears to be utilised as a prescribing aid which is inconsistent with past and current revised UK NICE guidelines.

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Title: Clinical characteristics associated with the prescribing of SSRI medication in adolescents with major unipolar depression
Authors: Lesley Cousins
Kirstie J. Whitaker
Barry Widmer
Nick Midgley
Sarah Byford
Bernadka Dubicka
Raphael Kelvin
Shirley Reynolds
Christopher Roberts
Fiona Holland
Barbara Barrett
Robert Senior
Paul Wilkinson
Mary Target
Peter Fonagy
Ian M Goodyer
Publication date: 01-12-2016
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in: European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry / Issue 12/2016
Print ISSN: 1018-8827
Electronic ISSN: 1435-165X
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-016-0849-y

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Clinical characteristics associated with the prescribing of SSRI medication in adolescents with major unipolar depression

Abstract

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