ABSTRACT
During the past 20 years there has been increasing recognition of depression in children and adolescents. Research in this area has focused on phenomenology (e.g., Carlson and Kashani, 1988; Mitchell et al., 1988), continuity with adult depression (e.g, Garber et al., 1988; Lewinsohn et al., 1999; Weissman et al., 1999a, 1999b), familial aggregation (e.g., Williamson et al., 1995; Klein et al., 2001), and identifying children at high risk (e.g., Orvaschel et al., 1988; Hammen et al., 1990; Weissman et al., 1997). The accumulated evidence has shown that the core symptoms of depression in childhood and adulthood are similar, with developmentally determined variations in their clinical presentation; that children of depressed parents are at increased risk for depression
and a variety of nonmood disorders; and depression in adolescence often recurs or continues into adulthood.
