Teens and SSRI's

Ssri for teens is a dangerous game

Stay off them for as long as possible...and then only start with the lowest dose (10Mg or less) if you have to take them.

If you do, expect side effects (night sweats, loss of interest, etc).

Exercise is probably the best answer...and solves 90% of the issues doctors tend to throw SSRIs at. A 30-minute walk-run 3-4 times per week works wonders. Exercise (and sunlight) raise feel-good chemicals (serotonin being just 1 of these).

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Any attempt to change diet and exercise?

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It's more situational than chronic.

Cognitive behavior therapy and increased exercise should be treatments 1a and 1b. Medication should be an absolute last resort for the most severe cases. Adolescents and teenagers may struggle to understand the difference between boredom, ennui, and depression, and struggle harder still to vocalize or explain that difference to adults.

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I've read some of the research, and while it does show the potential for increased suicidal thoughts or actions, it doesn't seem substantial

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That's always an interesting statement to evaluate- it's fairly difficult to match a cohort in their suicidal thoughts when looking at one group who is on medication for depression and one group who is not.

That said, I'll echo what the others are saying: medication should be second or third line. Counseling, CBT, community-involvement, exercise routines, healthy diet, and introduction of a hobby should pretty much all not work before medicine becomes the better choice.

Of course, without specifics, it could very well be applied sooner for a number of reasons. What I tell people is that the pills aren't magic, and they aren't going to drastically change the way they think/feel for the most part. Those who have a magnificent turnaround a week later are usually on a placebo high that will eventually crash. Even with a good response, you still need to work on the other things mentioned before. The goal of therapy should, in most cases, be to discontinue pharmacologic therapy eventually.


Again, as always, these are generalizations and could very well not apply to the situation. But the short of it is that they are typically pretty safe drugs.

Cognitive behavioral therapy. But that takes much effort. Many parents are not willing to do that . In today's pill society, most want an easy fix, even if it is not really a fix