Depending on symptom severity, psychopharmacological treatment can be a valuable 
option in the treatment of depressive disorders in childhood and adolescence. 
This review provides recommendations for clinical treatment, focusing on 
suicidality and treatment-resistant patients. The quality of studies regarding 
the psychopharmacological therapy of depressive disorders in childhood and 
adolescence has improved since the «black box» warning of the FDA concerning the 
occurrence of suicidality under treatment with selective serotonin reuptake 
inhibitors (SSRIs). In Germany, there is proof for a trend toward a more 
evidence-based psychopharmacological treatment approach within recent years.