Treatment of adolescents can consist of either behavioural or drug therapy. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), which helps change ways of thinking and acting that contribute to depressed mood, is the treatment of choice in mild and moderate degrees of depression.

In severe cases of depression, antidepressant drugs can be used. One review of the findings of multiple studies on childhood and adolescent depression drug treatment found that fluoxetine was a safe and effective treatment for adolescent depression.[1] A study found fluoxetine alone to be superior to CBT alone, but the combination of fluoxetine and CBT superior to either the drug or CBT alone in reducing depressive symptoms. The combination also produced the largest reduction in suicidal thinking, compared to what had been present at the beginning of the study.[2]

Tricyclic antidepressants are not recommended because of their potential to cause death in overdose and because they are simply not effective.