[Source:  Psych Central]
Although selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) medications are considered the current standard for pharmaceutical care for depression, the medications must be carefully prescribed to avoid the risk of suicide among children and young adults.
A multidisciplinary team of Johns Hopkins researchers has developed two new strategies to safely treat depression in young people using the SSRI class of medications. These strategies, recently published in the journal Translational Psychiatry, incorporate a new understanding of how to mitigate the risk of suicide while on SSRI treatment.
“These medications have to be dosed in a careful way,” said senior investigator Adam Kaplin, M.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychiatry and neurology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.