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The prescription of antidepressants to the child remains a delicate issue because of the fears it arouses among professionals and in the child and his family alike. A discriminative study of depression should be based on symptomatology with respect to age as well as on the specific type of depressive disorder. From his clinical experience the author draws that overides a ideological positions and offers a clearer view to decide when to prescribe. An outline of the initial encounters with the child and his family should guide the professional on three simultaneous levels: symptoms, suffering and meaning. Without plebisciting one molecule among others the article offers the author’s experience with the class of inhibitors of serotonine recapture. The implication of family history in depression makes its role crucial to the prescription and acceptance of this type of therapy.