The treatment of depression has increasingly emphasized the use of anti-depressant medications for both adults and children. Major depressive disorders have been reported to occur in about 2 percent of children and in about 5 percent of adolescents. Other forms of depressive illnesses, such as dysthymic disorder, can affect an additional 2 to 9 percent of children and adolescents. Recovery from a depressive episode can take as long as 7 to 9 months from the time treatment is initiated, and 70 percent of treated children will recover within a year, compared to 50 percent recovery for children without treatment. Because vulnerability to depression or actual depression is thought to result from low serotonin activity, serotonin is of great current interest. Other anti-depressant medications include norepinephrine and dopamine. Many child psychiatrists believe that anti-depressants work in children, although children whose depressive illnesses are complicated by multiple areas of distress (economic adversity, social isolation, family conflict, and lack of academic success) have the highest risk for a poor outcome while on anti-depressants without family-oriented or environmentally therapeutic intervention. Psychological interventions may include individual therapy, parental guidance, or group therapy. Issues associated with prescribing anti-depressants for children are addressed, particularly who can prescribe the drugs, how long children should take anti-depressants, whether anti-depressants are prescribed too readily, and what treatment staff and teachers can do for children on medication. 16 references, 1 table, and 1 figure