Alice Park  @aliceparkny  June 8 2016   And the most commonly prescribed antidepressants often don’t help Treating mood disorders in children and adolescents is a tricky business. The pharmaceutical industry has developed somepowerful drugs that can blunt some of the more serious imbalances in brain chemicals that are linked to depression, but it’s unclear how those medications can affect still-developing brains. Weighing the benefits of treating depression against the risks associated with the medications remains a challenge for doctors, especially since there are few studies that investigate the effects of antidepressants in minors.