In the wake of recent government warnings about children and antidepressants, parents are having an increasingly difficult time getting prescriptions for their children.
Parents have frequently turned to pediatricians and family doctors for mental-health treatment for their children, finding it less stigmatizing and more accessible than seeing a psychiatrist or therapist.
But some pediatricians and family practitioners are reluctant to prescribe antidepressants for young people and are referring families to child and adolescent psychiatrists instead.
The challenge is that there are far fewer of these specialists available, and frustrated families are encountering waits of as long as a year in some cases to get appointments.
The current wave of referrals for antidepressants has only made the shortage worse.
Questions about antidepressants and kids came to a head last month when a Food and Drug Administration panel recommended that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), the class of antidepressants including Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft, should carry "black box" warning labels because a small percentage of children taking the drugs had increased suicidal tendencies.
In turn, there are few child and adolescent psychiatrists to teach in medical schools, says Thomas Anders, president-elect of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
"They have different rates of metabolism, different responses to medications."
Sherri Walton of Paradise Valley, Ariz., has two teenage daughters who receive psychiatric care for depression and other conditions.
The Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health, a national advocacy group, has chapters and parent advocates in every state.
After her adolescent son was hospitalized for bipolar disorder 2 1/2 years ago, Susan Page-Thompson was referred to the Massachusetts state department of mental-health services, which assists children with a variety of problems.
In addition to literature on child and teen depression, there are several mental-health advocacy groups that can be resources for families.