TY - JOUR T1 - Treading a fine line: is diagnosing depression in young people just medicalising moodiness? JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 156 LP - 157 DO - 10.3399/bjgp09X407081 VL - 59 IS - 560 AU - Steve Iliffe AU - Georgina Williams AU - Victoria Fernandez AU - Mar Vila AU - Tami Kramer AU - Julia Gledhill AU - Lisa Miller Y1 - 2009/03/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/59/560/156.abstract N2 - Depressed mood in young people is common, with a prevalence of up to 20% among teenagers consulting their GP.1 Depression during the teenage years is associated with functional impairment and health risk behaviours;2,3 episodes can be severe and prolonged, often not resolving over 18 months.4 Adolescent depression is a chronic and relapsing condition with a high level of continuity into adulthood,5,6 where it is associated with impaired psychosocial functioning.2 Even young people with low levels of depressive symptoms and associated impairment — so-called ‘subsyndromal depression’ — have been shown to have persistent impairment.7 There is some evidence that intervention can reduce psychological morbidity and it is therefore possible that early intervention could alter the experience of mental ill-health in later life.8 However, young people with psychological morbidity are difficult to engage in psychological therapies,9 even though such therapies appear to reduce symptoms and case prevalence.10 This reluctance to engage reduces the capacity of GPs and their practice counsellors to review depressed teenagers. The NICE guidelines on depression in children and young people11 argue for enhanced detection and risk profiling in community settings, but the precise means to achieve this remain unclear.GPs may be seen as being well placed to undertake detection and … ER -