Guidelines for youth depression:  time to incorporate new perspectives

Hickie, Ian B; McGorry, Patrick D

doi:10.5694/j.1326-5377.2010.tb03828.x

Topics

New guidelines are timely but miss an opportunity to emphasise early intervention for all young people

There are few mental health issues of greater concern to the wider community than the management of young people with depressive disorders. Consequently, the new draft clinical practice guidelines from beyondblue: the national depression initiative1 are timely. The previous National Health and Medical Research Council Clinical practice guidelines: depression in young people were produced in 1997 and rescinded in 2004, and a variety of other international perspectives are now available.2,3

1 Brain and Mind Research Institute, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW.
2 University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC.
3 ORYGEN Youth Health, Melbourne, VIC.
4 ORYGEN Research Centre, Melbourne, VIC.

Correspondence: ian.hickie@sydney.edu.au

Acknowledgements:

beyondblue have funded previous and current research at ORYGEN Youth Health.

Competing interests:

We are members of the Board of headspace. Ian Hickie is a member of the National Advisory Council on Mental Health.

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