Kirkus Review

Principally written by two National Institute of Mental Health psychiatrists, this concise and serviceable overview of childhood depression and its treatment covers the necessary issues, keeps the main subject in perspective, and generally distinguishes the relatively few certainties from the more numerous theoretical plausibilities. Long unrecognized or denied by professionals, childhood depression strikes a small but noticeable percentage of the population. Like adults, those afflicted may suffer mild or more serious symptoms arising from social or biological sources or both. Also like adults, many of those with depressive symptoms respond to intervention: counseling, medication, psychotherapy, or a combination of treatments, depending on the nature of the illness. McKnew and Cytryn identify those at risk--children with a depressed parent constitute the largest minority--and give a wide variety of behavioral examples, from children in mourning (an appropriate depression for up to six months) to the most serious cases of suicidal impulses. And, notably, they manage to present even the most difficult or controversial aspects (the danger of some drugs to young heart function, for example, or the use of lithium with a very few screened adolescents) in an unbiased but not uninvolved manner. A book of substance and measured judgments, accessible to some parents but primarily addressed to those who work with children. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.