Developmental epidemiology of depressive disorders

Definitions, understanding, and treatment of childhood depressive disorders are changing. The last 40 years have seen a move from questioning whether depression even existed in younger children to evidence-based descriptive models. The field is now moving toward developmentally informed multifactorial models that more accurately reflect the complexity, heterogeneity, and dimensionality of depressive disorders. Knowledge about genetic, temperamental, and developmental risks has increased. Inability to self-regulate seems to be common in depressive and related disorders. Positive modulation can be promoted through experiences, psychotherapies, and, possibly, medications. The authors provide an overview of childhood depressive disorders with emphasis on the developmental/etiologic underpinnings.