Selecting an Antidepressant for the Treatment of Pediatric Depression

This column aims to discuss practical approaches to everyday issues in pediatric pharmacotherapy. The cases and discussions specifically target aspects of clinical care related to psychopharmacology for which there are no adequate applicable controlled trials. Given the need to address symptoms in youths with complex, severe, and comorbid disorders, recommendations are likely to be from the perspective of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The authors fully appreciate that for virtually all disorders, medication is only one aspect of comprehensive care. This column focuses primarily on psychopharmacological management. The responses from the expert clinicians are not meant to be practice guidelines but rather examples of thought processes that may go into pharmacotherapy decision making.