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REVIEW article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Neuropharmacology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1574574
Advances in the Prevalence and Treatment of Depression for Adolescents: A Review
Provisionally accepted- 1Department of Life Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
- 2Children’s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Liaoning Province, China
- 3China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China
- 4University of Oxford, Oxford, England, United Kingdom
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Background: Depression is a psychological condition in adolescents caused by various factors.Many serious consequences can be associated with depression, such as irritability, emotional instability, and suicide. Meanwhile, the incidence of depression and suicide among adolescents was also affected during the pandemic of COVID-19 in 2019. This phenomenon of adolescent depression should be drawn extensive concern by the community, which affects their physical and mental health.This review describes the epidemiology, high-risk factors, and treatment of adolescent depression. The onset of depression is probably attributable to preterm birth, growth environment, genetic. We also identify that the COVID-19 pandemic, initiated in late 2019 ， affects adolescent mental health. Antidepressants and psychotherapy are conventional treatments for depressive disorders. However, it is controversial whether antidepressants are as effective and safer as psychotherapy, and a combination of the two could provide more benefit to this population than antidepressants alone. We also summarize some antidepressants developed for novel targets. Improving the efficacy and safety of treatment to reduce the suicide rate among adolescents is the primary goal of clinical research. Existing treatment modalities and drugs are not sufficient to achieve clinical demands, so that new therapeutic targets will be promising for such patients.A variety of factors can contribute to depression in adolescents. Adolescent depression should be mainly treated with non-pharmacological. A combination of guidelinerecommended antidepressants should be used if uncontrolled with non-pharmacological, but adverse drug reactions and suicidal ideation should be closely monitored.
Keywords: adolescent depression, COVID-19, Antidepressants, Risk factors, Psychotherapy
Received: 11 Feb 2025; Accepted: 10 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yin, Xu and Zong. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Chunyu Yin, Department of Life Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.