The Effect of Untreated Illness in Youth Depression: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: The existing research has mainly focused on exploring how the duration of untreated psychosis effects the further course of the disease. By contrast, the duration of an untreated illness (DUI) in youth depression and its impact on the further course of the disease has remained scarcely investigated.

Aim: The current study aims to determine how the duration of untreated illness affects the severity of the symptoms during the first depressive episode and the degree to which the symptoms are reduced after treatment.