Adolescent depression is a very real, serious disease that is experiencing a surge in diagnosis as people are more accepting of the idea that teens experience depression in much the same way as adults. Adolescent depression manifests as persistent sadness, feelings of discouragement and lack of shelf worth as well as loss of interest in activities once enjoyed. Just as in adults, adolescent depression is caused by a number of factors but not all of them are known or understood. Acknowledging the existence of the depression and getting help in the form of counseling and medication are important factors in finding a way out of depression and living a normal life.
Symptoms of Adolescent Depression
There are many symptoms related to adolescent depression that are often dismissed as teen angst and the individual ‘just being a teenager’ that should be taken note of. Other risk factors for adolescent depression include loss of a loved one, relationship problems, education problems, financial problems, hormonal imbalances and chemical imbalances in the brain. If you have any family history of depression or other mental illness and your teen suffers from many of the following symptoms you should seek professional assistance.
Depressed or irritable mood
Temper, agitation, apathy
Reduced pleasure in daily activities
Inability to enjoy activities
Significant change in appetite
Unintentional change in weight (loss or gain)
Insomnia or hypersomnia
Fatigue
Difficulty concentrating or making decisions
Amnesia episodes
Feelings of worthlessness, sadness, or self-hatred
Excessive or inappropriate feelings of guilt
Acting-out behavior
Thoughts, plans or attempts of suicide
Obsessive fears or worries about death
Excessively irresponsible behavior pattern
Substance abuse
Testing for Adolescent Depression
There are a number of different things that need to be evaluated and tested to determine if a teen is suffering from adolescent depression. They include:
Physical examination and blood tests – to rule out medical causes for the symptoms
Substance abuse evaluation – drinking and drug use can be causes and consequences of depression.
Psychiatric evaluation – to assess a history of depression symptoms, family history related to depression and evaluate the possibility of other psychiatric problems that can be associated with depression
Risk assessment – to determine risk of suicidal or homicidal tendencies.
Treating Adolescent Depression
Treatment of depression is similar in teens to what treatments are available in adults. There are some medicines that are not permitted for use in anyone under the age of 18, but most are viable for depression treatment in smaller dosages for teen depression. It is not absolutely necessary to use drug therapy to treat depression, other treatments include:
Family therapy – sometimes adolescent depression is due to conflict within the family. The entire family can benefit from therapy as there may be more than just one person depressed and the atmosphere is not conducive to alleviating depression.
Talk therapy – this individualized therapy focuses on finding the root cause(s) of depression as a way to relieve the symptoms. This type of therapy is usually long term because it can take considerable time for the patient to learn to trust the doctor and begin to reveal the problems that have led to depression.
What Does NOT Help
Many parents consider sending their teens to boot camp and other such programs with the intent to remove the symptoms of depression. These parents typically think that the teen is acting out due to anger and do not realize that depression is the cause. Additionally, these programs rarely use medical staff and the confrontations that teens face in them can actually serve to increase the symptoms of depression.
Prognosis
With a combination of drug and talk therapies, most adolescent depression cases are improved and even cured. About half of all depressed teens continue to have depression related problems as adults but they are equipped with knowledge about how to seek help and when. Prevention of depressive episodes is keep to not relapsing so it is important to be able to communicate with your teen about their experiences to help identify depressive causes and avoid them.
