For many teens, Depression is a part of every day life. When one anti-depressant medication does not effectively treat the depression, the medications are often switched or changed in hopes of promoting some sort of positive mental outcome. A recent trial completed by the National Institutes of Health National Institute of Mental Health has found that this switch may not be the most effective change.
When teens suffer from hard to treat depression, a combination of a new anti-depressant medication and
Psychotherapy has been found to prove more therapeutic than medication alone. The results of the trial, which included multiple sites, was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
According to David Brent M.D.,”The findings should be encouraging for families with a teen who has been struggling with depression for some time. Even if a first attempt at treatment is unsuccessful, persistence will pay off. Being open to trying new evidence-based medications or treatment combinations is likely to result in improvement.”
The study centered on more than 330 teens between the ages of 12 and 18. These teens had previously responded unsuccessfully to anti-depressant medications of the serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), which is a type of anti-depressant medication. The teens were switched into one of four new therapy choices. The choices included, a new SSRI anti-depressant drug, a new serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor(SNRI), a combination of a new SSRI and psychotherapy or a new SNRI and psychotherapy.
The results of the trials showed the teens who changed medications and added psychotherapy was more effective at treating the depression in 55% of the teens within that group. Of the teens who switched to a new medication alone, more than 40% showed signs of improvement over the last anti-depressant medication they were taking.
Unlike previous trials, the study did not exclude teens who were thinking about or contemplating suicide. This was an intentional part of the trial aimed at gearing the results more toward a real life setting, as opposed to a controlled depression only participant group.
By the end of the study, while some of the suicidal teens had showed improvement in the realm of depressive feelings, the thought and tendencies toward suicide did not change.
