Pediatricians call for universal depression screening for teens
By Allison Aubrey, NPR
Only about 50 percent of adolescents with depression get diagnosed before reaching adulthood. And as many as 2 in 3 depressed teens don’t get the care that could help them.
“It’s a huge problem,” says Rachel Zuckerbrot, a board-certified child and adolescent psychiatrist and associate professor at Columbia University.
To address this divide, the American Academy of Pediatrics has issued updated guidelines this week that call for universal screening for depression.