Am J Psychiatry 1980; 137:445-449
Copyright © 1980 by American Psychiatric Association
Unmasking masked depression in children and adolescents
GA Carlson and DP Cantwell
The authors examined depressive symptoms and behavior disorders in 102
systematically interviewed children aged 7 to 17 years to elucidate the
category of masked depression. They found that it was possible to diagnose
these children using adult research criteria and that more children with
depression were identified using a systematic interview than were
identified using standard evaluation procedures. Although children with a
depressive disorder may also exhibit behavior disorders that overshadow the
depression, an alert clinician conducting a thorough interview should be
able to identify the "masked" depression.
