Depression and suicidal behaviour in children

Depression is a psychiatric disorder, while suicidal behaviour is a symptom of many different kinds of problem. Depression is very uncommon in pre-adolescent children but the rates increase greatly during adolescence to reach a prevalence of around 1% in boys and 2% in girls. In this contribution, the aetiology, assessment, management and treatment of depression in children and adolescents is covered. Suicide is very uncommon in childhood and early adolescence but the rate increases markedly during middle adolescence: in 1990 the suicide rate in the UK for males aged 15-19 years was 57 per million, 4 times higher than that for females at 14 per million. This contribution covers the aetiology, assessment and management of children and adolescents at risk of suicide and self harm.