Category: Depression

Categories
Depression

How Common is Teen Depression?

Teen depression is alarmingly widespread. With approximately 20% of teens experiencing depression before adulthood, it has become a pressing public health issue.

The effects of teen depression are profound and far-reaching. It impairs social functioning, and academic performance, and can lead to substance abuse or even suicidal thoughts. The increasing pressures from social media, academic expectations, and the search for identity make this age group particularly vulnerable.

By recognizing and understanding the gravity of teen depression, steps can be taken to combat this epidemic. Through education, open communication, early intervention, and specialized treatment programs like those at Visions Adolescent Treatment Centers, there is hope for affected teens to regain control of their lives and build a future filled with possibilities.

In this article, we’re exploring the question – how common is teen depression? Keep reading to discover why depression is widespread among teenagers.

How Common is Teen Depression?

According to studies, approximately 20% of teens will experience depression before they reach adulthood. In addition, a recent study revealed depression among teenage girls is on the rise. This is an alarming statistic, especially considering that during the teenage years, individuals are building the foundation for their futures. 

The teenage years are a critical period in a person’s life. This is the time when individuals are not only going through significant biological changes but are also forming their identities, shaping their worldviews, and making decisions that will affect their future careers and relationships. When depression strikes during this vulnerable phase, the effects can be particularly damaging.

Depression can negatively affect a teenager’s academic performance, social life, and behavior in a way that impacts their future.

Given these potential consequences, it is crucial for parents, educators, and healthcare professionals to be vigilant in recognizing the signs of depression in teenagers. Early intervention, professional treatment, and a supportive environment can be life-saving.

It’s also essential to educate teens themselves about the signs and symptoms of depression and let them know that asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness. Providing teens with the tools and resources to manage their mental health effectively is key to helping them build a strong foundation for a fulfilling and productive adulthood.

Why Do So Many Teenagers Have Depression?

There are several factors contributing to the rise in teen depression:

  • Social Pressure: The pressure to fit in is immense, and the fear of exclusion can lead to feelings of isolation and sadness.
  • Academic Stress: The demand for academic excellence and the associated stress can be overwhelming for some teens.
  • Family Issues: Strained family relationships or family financial struggles can heavily impact a teen’s emotional well-being.
  • Bullying and Cyberbullying: With the proliferation of social media, cyberbullying has become a significant issue.
  • Biological and Hormonal Changes: Changes in the body and brain can affect mood and behavior.

Symptoms of Depression in Adolescents and Teenagers

Recognizing the symptoms of depression in teenagers is crucial for early intervention. Some common symptoms include:

  • Persistent sadness or feeling of hopelessness
  • Loss of interest in activities
  • Changes in sleeping and eating patterns
  • Fatigue
  • Difficulty concentrating
  • Withdrawal from friends and family
  • Self-harm or thoughts of suicide

Types of Depression Commonly Found in Teens

Ther are several types of depression most commonly experienced by teens.

  1. Adjustment Disorder With Depressed Mood – This type of depression occurs when a teen is unable to adjust or cope with a particular stressor, like a family move or parents’ divorce.
  2. Persistent Depressive Disorder (Dysthymia) – A chronic form of depression, dysthymia is characterized by long-lasting depressive symptoms that are less severe than major depression.
  3. Bipolar Disorder – Previously known as manic depression, this disorder involves periods of depression and periods of mania.
  4. Major Depression – This is characterized by severe symptoms that interfere with a teen’s ability to function normally in daily life.

Treatment for Depression at Visions

Picture the weight lifting from your teenager’s shoulders as they find hope and happiness after struggling with depression.

Visions Adolescent Treatment Centers offer specialized programs catering to the unique needs of depressed teenagers. With an experienced team of professionals, Visions combines therapy, education, and medication management (if needed) to holistically address the underlying causes of depression.

Imagine your teenager rediscovering joy, engaging in their passions, and building meaningful relationships. Visions can transform these aspirations into reality by empowering teens to take control of their mental health, giving them the tools they need to thrive.

Don’t let depression control your teenager’s life. Take the first step toward recovery and a brighter future by contacting Visions Adolescent Treatment Centers. Their compassionate staff is ready to guide your family through this crucial journey.

FAQs About Depression 

Here are some of the most frequently asked questions we hear along with answers.

What percentage of teens are depressed?

Approximately 20% of teenagers experience depression before they reach adulthood. This is concerning as adolescence is a critical period for personal and social development.

What percentage of high schoolers are depressed?

About 28% of high school students reportedly experience symptoms indicative of depression, making it a significant mental health concern among this age group.

What age group has the highest rate of depression?

Young adults aged 18-25 tend to have the highest rates of depression. This group often faces challenges like transitioning to college or starting careers, which can contribute to mental health issues.

Is school a main cause of depression?

School can be a significant stressor contributing to depression due to academic pressures, social dynamics, and bullying. However, it’s important to recognize that depression can be multifactorial, with various underlying causes.

What percent of 15 year olds have depression?

Around 5-8% of 15-year-olds experience depression. It’s crucial to support adolescents during this formative time to mitigate the long-term impacts of depression.

Why are so many students depressed?

Many students face academic pressures, social challenges, issues at home, and exposure to bullying or cyberbullying. Additionally, biological changes during adolescence can contribute to depression.

Are high school students more depressed?

High school students are particularly vulnerable to depression due to the combination of academic pressures, social challenges, biological changes, and the transition to adulthood. The prevalence of depression is relatively higher in high school compared to earlier schooling years.

Conclusion

The prevalence of depression among teenagers is an issue that requires careful attention and intervention. Understanding how common teen depression is and recognizing its symptoms are the first steps in addressing this mental health challenge. With various types of depression affecting teens, such as Adjustment Disorder with Depressed Mood, Persistent Depressive Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, and Major Depression, it’s crucial to be vigilant and supportive.

Treatment for teen depression is available and essential for helping the affected adolescents to regain control of their lives. Facilities like Visions Adolescent Treatment Centers specialize in providing tailored treatment plans that focus on the individual needs of each teen.

As parents, educators, and members of the community, it’s our collective responsibility to create a supportive environment for our youth. Encouraging open communication, educating teens on the importance of mental health, and providing them with the resources they need to overcome depression are vital steps in addressing this issue.

Teen depression is a multi-faceted problem that can have serious consequences if not addressed. It’s crucial that we all work together to understand, support, and guide our teenagers through these challenging times. Encouraging them to talk openly, seeking professional help when necessary, and educating ourselves and our teens about depression are critical components in tackling this widespread issue. Through compassion, understanding, and action, we can contribute to the well-being and positive development of our young generation.

Categories
Anxiety Depression

8 Common Signs of Teen Anxiety and Depression

Teen anxiety and depression rates continue to rise, yet remarkably few teens are getting the help they need. Studies show that, despite improvements in the general public’s understanding of mental health issues and their prevalence, especially among younger generations, roughly 6 in 10 teens are getting help for their symptoms, and systemic reviews show that stigma remains rampant – both on the individual, internalized level, as well as widespread institutionalized stigma. 

Recognizing teen anxiety and depression is the first step to getting your teen friends or loved ones the help they need. Some of the signs and symptoms of teen anxiety and depression can be surprising or overwhelming, and it can be difficult to figure out when or where to get help. 

Common Signs of Teen Anxiety and Depression

Adolescence can be a difficult and confusing time, especially in the modern world. Teens today have access to more information and data than ever before. Furthermore, our understanding of mental health as a general public has improved, meaning more teens today are able to articulate and name their feelings, rather than living with an unnamed malaise or unease. 

But that hasn’t made dealing with or living with an anxiety disorder or a depressive disorder any easier. Whether through external stressors – such as social media, academic pressure, or world events – or internal stressors, anxiety-prone teens may find themselves struggling with their symptoms more and more as they transition toward adulthood. Now is the most crucial time to begin working on ways to manage and reduce those symptoms. 

1. Sleep Disturbances and Insomnia

It’s not unusual for teens to stay up a little late or pull the occasional one-nighter. But in addition to generally not sleeping enough, teens with anxiety problems or recurring episodes of depression are more likely to struggle with their sleeping schedule, sometimes experiencing long periods of sleeplessness or insomnia. 

This can become a vicious cycle. Sleep is crucial for both mental and physical well-being, and poor sleep correlates heavily to poorer mental health, as well as serious cognitive and physical deficits. 

2. Changes in Appetite and Weight

Changes in weight and appetite are normal for teens, especially as they go through puberty. But rapid and sudden weight gain or weight loss – often to an extreme degree – may be a sign of something else, especially in conjunction with other symptoms of stress or strange moods. 

3. Physical and Mental Fatigue

Being tired is one thing, but overwhelming fatigue is another. Teens with anxiety or depressive symptoms often struggle with both physical and mental malaise, such as brain fog, a loss of focus or an inability to concentrate, chronic procrastination, inability to remember things as well as before, and a seeming loss or lack of energy in most physical endeavors. It’s easy to blame this on teenage laziness, but research tells us that many instances of so-called laziness are often a sign of something else, instead. 

4. Irritability and Anger Issues

Anxiety and depression are associated with fear, apathy, or sadness – but they can also inspire episodes of anger, confusion, and restless frustration. If your teen is struggling with emotional control and experiencing episodes of frustration out of nowhere, there may be more behind-the-scenes than typical teenage mood changes. 

5. Unexplained Guilt and Sadness

Depression is often associated with heavy feelings of guilt, as well as a negative self-image, poor self-esteem, and the tendency to reflect on the past negatively – undervaluing or completely forgetting positive experiences and focusing solely on the bad. 

Learning to deal with these emotions can be extremely difficult, especially alone, and they can lead to a spiral of negative introspection. 

6. Recurring Fears and Blanketed Worries

It’s normal to be stressed out about school, relationships, societal expectations, or the challenges of growing into an adult. 

Even when asking other adults, it’s hard to change the fact that no two generations grow up in the same world, so your parents and grandparents don’t always have the answers you feel you need. 

But anxiety disorders are different from the usual fare of worries and fears. 

These are irrational and overwhelming symptoms of physical and emotional stress, sometimes for very specific and isolated reasons, and sometimes for absolutely no reason at all. Dealing with that anxiety when you can’t identify where it’s coming from – or when you can’t begin to address its origins – is terrifying and frustrating. 

7. Panic Attacks

Panic attacks are more severe and immediate forms of anxiety, usually involving severe physical symptoms such as sudden sweating, heart palpitations, chest tightness, shortness of breath, and hyperventilation. Panic attacks can be painful, and last several minutes. They can be triggered or occur out of the blue sometimes. If panic attacks occur frequently, they become a panic disorder. 

8. Thoughts of Self-Harm

Thoughts of self-harm can be motivated by suicidal ideation or exist entirely separately from any feelings of suicide (non-suicidal self-harm). Oftentimes, teens who engage in self-harm aren’t trying to die or punish themselves, but want to feel something, substituting a sense of pleasure or fulfillment with pain. Self-harm often coexists with feelings of depression or another mental health problem. 

Teen Anxiety and Depression Treatment

At our treatment facility, we are frequently asked about teen anxiety and depression. Parents, other family members, and friends want to know more about these conditions and how they affect their loved ones. 

A lot of people ask about triggers. Certain things can be “triggering”, in that they cause someone to feel uncomfortable, or anxious. But these triggers differ from one individual to the next. Think about how your teen responds to your words and actions and keep them in mind for the future. 

Lifestyle changes can help with certain cases of anxiety and depression, but they don’t replace a holistic treatment plan – they are one part of a greater, more effective whole. Unfortunately, suggesting that a single lifestyle change or lifestyle plan might end a teen’s depression is often condescending and unhelpful. 

Sometimes, parents and friends are worried about their involvement in the treatment process, and whether they can or should insert themselves in the treatment plan. There are many different forms of family therapy that are designed explicitly to help integrate the family into the treatment of a teen’s mental health issues, as well as addressing underlying family dynamics that might be affecting a teen negatively and promoting support within the family and community. 

Have you or a loved one been experiencing symptoms of anxiety or depression? Do you want to learn more about treating teen anxiety and depression? Get in touch with us today at Visions Treatment Centers to talk with a qualified professional and navigate through your options for diagnosis and treatment.  

Conclusion

Seeking treatment while struggling with anxiety or depression may be less than straightforward; especially for teens feeling lost, unseen, and unheard. Learning to see the warning signs in your loved ones can be an important first step towards getting them the help they need. 

Categories
Depression

How to Motivate a Depressed Teenager

Motivation can generally be categorized in two different ways: intrinsic and extrinsic. Simply put, an extrinsic reward or motivation is a cookie or praise from a loved one. An intrinsic reward is the sense of accomplishment and pride when achieving a goal. 

Both are important, but intrinsic motivation tends to be more effective, as it represents our inner drive – our emotional needs rather than our wants. It’s great to get the cookie you wanted, but it’s ultimately more fulfilling if your reasons are near and dear to your heart. This is something explored during teen depression treatment, but it’s also something you can practice daily.

One of the most severe problems with teen depression is that it negatively impacts a person’s capacity to experience intrinsic motivation. On the outside, this makes teens with depression seem listless, if not lazy. But looking deeper within, this is a form of pain that affects nearly every aspect of life in a debilitating way. 

Depression also affects extrinsic motivation. A cookie sounds nice, but it might not feel worth the bother. One of the significant symptoms of depression is anhedonia, which ranges from a dampened sense of joy to pure joylessness – things that used to taste good taste less good, and things that used to be fun are less fun. Things that used to be interesting are unimportant. 

The struggle to feel motivated extends beyond schoolwork or other responsibilities. A depressed teen may struggle to find the motivation to get out of bed, let alone brush their teeth and get dressed. 

So, how do you motivate someone with depression? Let’s take a step-by-step approach. 

Adjust Your Expectations

Depression can be a long-term illness. In some cases, it is tied to circumstances and events. Other forms of depression, like major depressive disorder, can be intense and long-lasting, with no significant cause or trigger. Some teens experience persistent depression, or dysthymia, which can last years. 

But there are good and bad days in the midst of it all. No one with depression chooses to be sad, and it’s a fight every day. Some days go better than others, and paying attention to when your teen is feeling better and encouraging them is especially important. 

With depression often comes guilt. Many teens who experience depression feel ashamed about their behavior while depressed. They want to do more, but they feel like they can’t. They want to do better, but they feel smothered. It’s a negative cycle, and it is only made worse by the negative observations of others. Calling someone with depression lazy or telling them to “simply” try harder will result in the opposite. Fewer good days, and more bad days. 

Patience and consistent support are best. Be in your teen’s corner. Know that they’re doing their best, even when they don’t seem to be doing much of anything. And when they do get things done, let them know that you’re proud of their efforts. 

Be Supportive and Offer Frequent Affirmation

Affirmations are essential in the long-term management of depression. They are the bread-and-butter of emotional support loved ones can offer a depressed teenager. Recurring negative thoughts is a pillar of a depressive mood disorder, and fighting against those thoughts with positive affirmations helps your teen understand that the people around them support and believe in them. Think of it as fighting negativity, on a daily basis. 

Encouraging your teen to repeat affirmations back to themselves can be annoying, but it also helps. Vocalizing it – giving the positive thought a voice – can make a meaningful difference over time. Some positive affirmations your teen might want to try or hear can include: 

  • You’ve made it through other challenges and got this one, too. 
  • You’re capable and strong. Depression does not control you at all times. 
  • You’re not alone; many others are fighting against dark thoughts, too, and your family/friends are here. 
  • I’m proud of you for today/what you’ve done/what you’re doing. 
  • It’s one step at a time, one day at a time. 
  • You deserve to be happy. 
  • You’re valuable, even when you don’t feel productive. 

Related: 9 Warning Signs of Adolescent Depression

Look For Help Together

A parent or friend cannot take away a teen’s depression. But they can do everything in their power to help fight it. In addition to positive affirmations, thoughts, and support, one of the ways you can make an impact in a depressed teen’s life is to encourage them to explore the benefits of teen depression treatment and support them throughout the treatment process. 

It’s not enough to suggest therapy. Talk to your teen about seeing a professional together. Drive them to their sessions. Suggest or talk to the therapist about family therapy or joint sessions. Be involved and learn more about how you can help your teen – such as reminding them to take care of their daily journaling or asking about their therapy homework. 

Extrinsic motivation can still work. Talk to your teen about ways to help promote healthy habits that can contribute to managing depressive thoughts. For example, extra game time if they promise to go for a daily walk, and so on. 

Avoid Judging or Scolding Them

Tough love does not help. Understandably, seeing a teen struggle day in and day out with even basic tasks and responsibilities can make some parents feel frustrated and angry – but taking that anger out on your teen will always backfire when the enemy in question is their mental health. 

Negative emotions feed on other negative emotions and combating depression with scolding, and anger may elicit a short-term burst of energy out of fear or shame. Still, it will only make things much, much worse. Patience and positivity are key. 

Test Your Teen for Learning Disabilities and Other Conditions

Depression often co-occurs with other mental and neurodevelopmental conditions, including learning disabilities (dyslexia), ADHD, and anxiety disorders. These can interact and be exacerbated by symptoms of depression – making it even harder for teens to progress in treatment. 

If your teen struggles in more ways than one, they may need more than outpatient treatment. An inpatient treatment facility like Visions can help teens who need specialized treatment get the additional care and attention they require. 

Categories
Depression

12 Common Teen Depression Symptoms

An estimated 2.9 million teens, or about 12 percent of adolescents, struggle with major depressive disorder or have had a significant depressive episode. Some organizations have called it a teen epidemic, although the issue of teen mental health is more pervasive – in fact, the WHO estimates that teen mental health rates are worsening all over the globe, despite growing awareness and investment in better mental health resources and availability. 

One of the major reasons teens struggle so much is that so few of them get the help they need. Only about 40 percent of adolescents who need mental health treatment for conditions like depression get it. Given that many teens still don’t want to broach the topic or don’t know how to address or identify their thoughts, for parents wanting the best for their children, one of their most important challenges is determining whether their teen is or isn’t affected by a mood disorder. 

In this article, you will discover the 12 common teen depression symptoms.

Identifying the Signs and Symptoms of Teen Depression

Recognizing teen depression by its symptoms is not always easy. Sometimes, parents can struggle to differentiate between a mental health episode and “normal” teen moodiness. 

But aside from a professional diagnosis, an important characteristic is time. Depression symptoms must persist for weeks, then months, for a teen’s mood to indicate a mental health problem. 

Being upset, anxious, or irritable is normal, especially under difficult personal circumstances. And for teens, many things qualify as difficult personal circumstances. 

However, depressive disorders occur and persist even under normal or happy circumstances. 

Moments of joy are fleeting, and many teens with depression will experience anhedonia (an inability to feel happy), lose interest in old hobbies, struggle to maintain relationships with friends, and give up on consistent hobbies for lack of motivation. Other classic signs of teen depression include:

    1. Overt or significant interest in death and the morbid.
      Teens with depression are more likely to be preoccupied with thoughts of death. A common thread of thinking is imagining or fantasizing about what it would be like for others after they die and whether they would be missed.
    2. Frequently discussing or joking about suicide.
      Suicidal ideation and suicide attempts are some of the most harrowing and severe symptoms of depression. There are often no warning signs for loved ones, and the urge can strike from anywhere for no reason. 
    3. Disinterested in old hobbies.
      Loss of joy is a major symptom of depression. This includes a loss of interest in old hobbies. 
    4. Struggling to be socially available.
      It can be hard for people with depression to continue cultivating and managing their relationships with others. They are likely to push people away. 
    5. Feeling constantly demotivated.
      This extends past work and school into everyday living. It can sometimes feel impossible to get out of bed, let alone take a shower or get into a fresh change of clothing. 
    6. Chronically tired or fatigued despite oversleeping.
      Depression comes with many physical signs, including general fatigue and tiredness. 
    7. Poor sleep hygiene and insomnia.
      Despite being chronically tired, many depressed teens struggle to sleep or maintain a healthy sleep cycle. 
    8. Signs of physical self-harm.
      These include hairpulling, cutting, excessive nail-biting, burning, or picking at scabs. 
    9. Language that implies self-hatred (self-deprecating jokes, constant negative affirmations, guilt, and regret).
    10. Much more likely to engage in risky behavior.
      This can range in anything from adrenaline-seeking behavior to illegal behavior, such as theft, speeding, or public sex. 
    11. Irritability and sudden outbursts from time to time.
      While teens with depression have a low mood, they can still get angry (or even experience laughter sometimes). In fact, they may be more likely to lash out at others and struggle to accept advice or affirmation. 
    12. Co-occurring mental health issues (especially anxiety, ADHD, or complex grief).

If your teen’s sadness persists for weeks, if not months, and attempts to cheer them up backfire or haven’t worked well, they may be going through more than just a temporary rough patch. 

Depression is also Physical

Long-term sadness is a classic sign of depression, but many parents and friends miss the physical signs that often co-occur. 

Depression can drastically impact a person’s sleep cycle, often leading to chronic oversleeping or undersleeping and insomnia. 

Rapid weight gain or weight loss is also common. Some teens react to symptoms of depression with eating binges, more snacks, less physical activity, or increased “boredom eating”. 

Others react physically to the stress through lowered appetite, rapid weight loss, and a disinterest in food in general. 

Pain is another common physical symptom of depression, especially random pain. Depression can be precipitated by or can include episodes of joint pain and stomach pain, even in teens, and often co-occurs with irritable bowel syndrome. 

For teens with other chronic health conditions – especially conditions that include chronic pain – depression can make symptoms worse, increase pain sensitivity, and slow treatment. 

Depression Has Terrible Bedfellows

While not a symptom, the majority of teens with major depressive disorder or similar mood disorders also struggle with at least one other mental health issue or are at a much greater risk for conditions such as generalized anxiety disorder or ADHD. 

Sometimes, it’s a chicken-or-egg situation, where it is hard to tell which condition came first or how they affected each other. Most mental health conditions can lead to an increased risk of depression and vice versa. 

While it’s common, this can also complicate treatment. Helping a teen solely via talk therapy and antidepressants might not help address their ongoing substance use addiction, for example, if they continue using it at home or school. Inpatient treatment at specialized mental health facilities can help teens with multiple mood disorders or co-occurring mental health issues. 

There Are Many Kinds of Teen Depression

Many teens struggle with major depressive disorder, which is often also referred to as clinical depression. But it is not the only depression teens are affected by. Another common mood disorder is bipolar disorder, which includes symptoms of depression alongside mania or hypomania. Where depression is chronically low mood, mania involves drastically and uncharacteristically high mood episodes alongside dangerous symptoms such as illusions of grandeur, boundless energy, greater risk taking behavior, and a greater risk of personal harm. Sometimes, teens with mania seem to never or barely sleep and might appear hyper-functioning, but to their own long-term detriment. 

Hypomanic symptoms are less severe and less likely to cause hospitalization but may still be significant or out-of-character. Teens with hypomania are also more likely to struggle with episodes of severe depression in between manic symptoms. 

Girls may struggle with premenstrual dysphoric disorder. Unlike major depression, which may have a number of confluent neurological, genetic, and social causes, the premenstrual dysphoric disorder is linked to hormonal changes during a teen’s menstrual cycle. While it is compared to PMS, symptoms are often much more severe and can include suicidal thoughts and self-harm. PMDD is also typically a lifelong condition. 

Another common form of teen depression is seasonal affective disorder. The most common type of seasonal affective disorder is winter depression, where teens start feeling symptoms of depression only around the winter months. Causes or factors are believed to include a lack of sunlight and an increase in holiday- and weather-related stressors. 

Teen depression is an incredibly common and very complex condition, with different contributing factors and co-occurring issues. Treating your teen’s depression (or your own) will take time, patience, and especially support. 

Categories
Depression Feelings Mental Health

How Does Depression Affect Teens?

How does depression affect teens? What does teen depression look like? When exactly is it depression? And when is it moodiness?

While being a teen can be tough, there are a few telltale characteristics that set depression apart from typical teenage angst. Both teens and parents should keep an eye on these characteristics and how they might affect their loved ones and closest friends.

How Does Depression Affect Teens?

So, how does depression affect teens? And what does it look like?

At first glance, depressive symptoms match closely with teenage despair. Depressed teens can be irritable, difficult, might be less likely to respond to being called, and will hole up in their rooms for hours, if not days, at a time. Concerned parents might have a tough time telling a depressive episode apart from a bad breakup.

But one key aspect of depression is time. Depressive symptoms don’t show up for a few days or a week, then disappear. Your teen may take months to get over a breakup, but they aren’t going to be spending those months at the bottom of an endless emotional pit – they may hit the bottom at some point, then slowly, steadily climb out of it.

Depression, on the other hand, shackles you to the seafloor and doesn’t let you go for weeks, months, and sometimes even years.

Signs of Depression in Teens

Some people diagnosed with a depressive disorder will bear the brunt of the condition for a few weeks at a time, then experience a lull in symptoms before it comes back in full force. Others experience a lower intensity of depression symptoms but at every waking moment. Depressive symptoms can come and go at any point, with no warning and no clear cause. They may include:

  • Deep sorrow, feelings of worthlessness, or guilt for no reason.
  • Extremely low self-esteem or active self-loathing/deprecation.
  • A loss of interest in old hobbies and activities.
  • A significant change in diet and appetite (dramatic weight gain or dramatic weight loss).
  • Restlessness and insomnia/oversleeping, poor sleep habits.
  • Sluggishness and fatigue that won’t go away with rest.
  • Total loss of motivation, struggle to get up, difficulty with routine (poorer physical hygiene).
  • Recurring suicidal thoughts or attempts, self-harm, extreme risk-taking, growing pessimism, and cynicism.
  • Unexplained aches and pains and episodes of nausea.

If your teen is upset over something, it may be part of their depression, or it may be a normal teen reaction to an upsetting event. Telling these two apart requires open communication and a willingness to regularly check in with your teen to keep track of their moods and realize when something seems off.

How Is Teen Depression Diagnosed?

Depression comes in many forms. These are called mood disorders, and they include most mental health conditions that center around extraordinarily low or extraordinarily high moods (symptoms of depression and symptoms of mania). Common depressive disorders include:

  • Major depressive disorder: this is the most commonly diagnosed depressive disorder and is often known as clinical depression.
  • Dysthymia: this is a long-term or chronic form of depression, usually involving milder symptoms.
  • Bipolar disorder: this mood disorder shares symptoms of depression as well as mania or hypomania.
  • Premenstrual dysphoric disorder: this form of severe depression is a debilitating form of PMS. Symptoms occur within the first week of every period and often get worse with age until menopause.
  • Postpartum depression: postpartum depression or peripartum depression is diagnosed before and/or after labor and childbirth.
  • Seasonal affective disorder: this form of depression is distinctly tied to a change in seasons, usually from autumn into winter. However, some teens also experience summer-type seasonal affective disorder.

Diagnostic Criteria for Depression

Different depressive disorders have different diagnostic criteria. If a doctor suspects a patient is depressed (during a routine screening, for example), they may be referred to a psychiatric professional for a full diagnosis.

While conditions like depression are not usually diagnosed through blood tests or imaging scans (with unique exceptions) like many other medical conditions, there are certain tests that doctors can conduct to determine whether a teen requires psychological treatment. These tests include one-on-one conversations, a thorough medical and family background, and an observation of a teen’s symptoms and behavior over multiple weeks.

Conditions like major depressive disorder can be identified in about 8.4 percent of the population. But while this particular form of depression is more common than others, it’s also important to note that there are many conditions that are harder to identify or that might be misdiagnosed as a different or more common form of depression. Some mental health conditions might share a few symptoms with depression but have a very different cause or psychological mechanism of action and require a completely different type of treatment.

Depression and Related Disorders

Depressive symptoms may be part of a different diagnosis, or a diagnosis of depression may be one of multiple disorders a teen is struggling with. Teens with depression are much more likely than their peers to also struggle with the following:

Don’t count out the possibility of depression just because your teen may exhibit signs of a different mental health problem. In many cases, these disorders are intertwined, sharing certain risk factors or causes, and contributing to each other in different ways. For example, a teen struggling with addiction may be more likely to suffer from bouts of anxiety or depression as they go through recovery and rehab.

How is Teen Depression Treated?

If your teen is diagnosed with a depressive disorder, their first-line treatment plan may often involve one-on-one talk therapy and modern antidepressants. These are the most effective and most commonly prescribed treatment methods for conditions like major depressive disorder.

Certain other disorders may involve different treatments – such as mood stabilizers for bipolar disorder or birth control for premenstrual dysphoric disorder. If first-line treatments fail, a doctor may prescribe alternative treatment plans. This is where psychiatric facilities, outpatient clinics, and residential facilities for teens can help, especially if comorbid health conditions or a serious risk of personal harm are involved.

For more information about treatment for teen depression, contact Visions Treatment Centers.

Categories
Depression Mental Health Mood Disorders Therapy Treatment

Is Depression Medication for Teens Better Than Therapy?

Teen depression is one of the most common adolescent mental health issues in the world, second only to teen anxiety disorders. Depression is a serious and often debilitating mental health issue among teens and remains the most common cause of disability in the US. And for parents looking for different treatment options for their child, it’s not uncommon to wonder if depression medication for teens would be a better alternative than therapy or if it would be best to seek both.

Let’s talk about it.

When It’s More Than Sadness

More than just sadness, depression is overwhelming fatigue, unexplained aches, total loss of joy, increased pain sensitivity, lack of ability to generate or feel motivation, and unknown flare-ups in symptoms.

Many teens who struggle with depression struggle academically, have a hard time developing to their full potential and go through a much tougher road in life. Thankfully, depression is treatable. Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all treatment plan that works.

How Is Depression Treated?

The first line treatment for any teen or adult with major depressive disorder, the most common mood disorder and most common form of depression is a combination of psychotherapy and selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).

SSRIs are some of the most recent antidepressants in a long line of different drug families, and they are some of the most well-researched psychiatric drugs in the world. But they are not a miracle cure for depression, and they often don’t work too well just on their own.

Psychotherapy is one-on-one talk therapy between a trained mental health professional and a patient. In the case of depression, the most commonly used therapeutic method is cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), a type of talk therapy developed in the 1970s and 1980s by combining the individual successes of cognitive therapy (focused on patient thoughts and thinking patterns) and behavioral therapy (focused on habits, actions, and controlling one’s responses in life).

When combined, modern SSRIs and talk therapy represent the most successful treatment plan for depressed patients. But the success rate is never 100 percent. Furthermore, it can take time for both therapy and the medication to work.

What Are Antidepressants?

There are half a dozen different subtypes of SSRI and well over a dozen branded and generic SSRI drugs. Each of these compounds reacts in different patients differently, with varied potential side effects and side effect severity. Some people react the least to citalopram, while others are better off on sertraline.

When a patient takes a recommended SSRI, it can take multiple weeks for the drug to begin taking effect. If side effects show up and they inhibit a patient’s life, it can take several more weeks for the drug to be completely flushed out before a different compound is used.

SSRIs are not addictive nor particularly dangerous. The side effects can be frustrating – such as weight gain, loss of sex drive, and drowsiness – but SSRIs are very, very rarely associated with serious risks, such as rare cases of increased suicidality or heart arrhythmia. Nevertheless, it can take a few different tries until a patient finds a drug that works best for them.

If no SSRIs work well, a patient may consider different, older classes of antidepressants, such as SNRIs, tricyclic antidepressants, MAOIs, and atypical antidepressants. While these may work, they are usually associated with a higher risk of side effects.

Therapy for Depression

Talk therapy is not a drug and does not have conventional side effects. But as far as treatment methods go, there is no guarantee that a patient will respond well to individual therapy either. Some teens are very receptive, while others have a much harder time responding or opening up in therapy. Some teens do better in a group setting, while others prefer solely one-on-one therapy sessions. While CBT is the premier therapeutic treatment method, there are other valid forms of talk therapy for depression, including dialectic behavioral therapy, behavioral activation therapy, and interpersonal psychotherapy.

Even among first-line treatments – like antidepressants and therapy – it’s hard to say which is better. Furthermore, it’s hard to say which is best for your teen. SSRIs and CBT are the most studied treatment methods, but that does not mean you or your teen won’t respond better to older drugs and a completely different therapy plan.

Are Antidepressants Better Than Placebo?

The research on antidepressants can be confusing. There are studies supporting the continued use of antidepressants in the treatment of depression. There are also conflicting review papers that find that antidepressants match placebo at best and that serotonin availability may not be a factor in depressive symptoms.

One particularly polarizing review involved a thorough analysis of the evidence behind the serotonin theory of depression, one of the cornerstones of antidepressant use. It found that there is no consistent evidence nor support for the hypothesis that depression is caused by lowered serotonin activity based on current research.

Furthermore, the criteria for inclusion in a phase III trial for an antidepressant do not necessarily reflect the reality of the majority of people who are prescribed antidepressants. Many people who take antidepressants would not actually be included in a clinical trial for the drug they are taking.

The rabbit hole of research on the efficacy of depression treatments goes deep. Here are some interesting things research can tell us:

  • Mindset matters a lot. A patient’s receptiveness to both therapy and antidepressant drugs can be highly indicative of their success.
  • Antidepressants need more research. The link between depression and serotonin availability is not clear, and what we do know tells us that medication on its own is not often a useful therapeutic tool.
  • Patients differ wildly. Depression is a condition with many comorbid conditions, all of which can modify and exacerbate depressive symptoms. Teens with depression often also struggle with anxiety, with chronic health issues like asthma and irritable bowel syndrome, or may have a history of drug use. Treatment plans must be highly individualized to help patients.

Depression Medication for Teens or Therapy: Which is Best?

Based on what we currently know, the best available answer is both, although therapy may be more important than medication.

While the serotonin theory of depression may not hold up in the long term, antidepressants seem to work – even if their mechanism of action is not completely understood. What we can agree on is that medication use must occur alongside therapy for the best effect.

Furthermore, not all teens will respond effectively to medication and therapy. Some teens need a different treatment approach or need a treatment plan that takes other factors into consideration, including comorbid mental and physical health conditions.

What About Treatment-Resistant Depression Options?

There are other treatments for depression than just antidepressants and therapy. However, the jury is often still out on these treatments. They include ketamine (a controversial dissociative anesthetic drug), electroconvulsive therapy, and transcranial magnetic stimulation.

Despite being one of the most common mental health conditions on the planet, depression is not completely understood. In any given case, careful consideration of all factors is needed, and treatment must be individualized. More importantly, therapy nearly always plays an important role in depression treatment.

Get Depression Treatment for Teens

Are you or your teen struggling with depression? Reach out to Visions Treatment Center to explore depression treatment for teens today.

Categories
Depression Mental Health Mood Disorders

Overcoming Seasonal Affective Disorder in Teens this Season

Holiday stress is a common phenomenon, even among teens. But there’s a stark difference between feeling melancholy over the winter break and developing a cycle of depression around the time snow starts falling. This feeling may be more than just being a little down and could be the result of seasonal affective disorder in teens.

While we don’t fully understand how and why some people are susceptible to mood disorder symptoms during the winter months (and, in some cases, over the summer holidays), we do know that seasonal affective disorder in teens is a very real and underdiagnosed mental health problem.

Here is what you should know.

What is Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)?

Seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, is a mood disorder characterized by symptoms tied to a change in season, usually either the peak of summer or the peak of winter.

Most people recognize SAD as the “winter blues,” but it is a little more serious than that – while holiday stress is common, only an estimated 10 million Americans are diagnosed with seasonal affective disorder each year, and there are multiple strict prerequisites for a professional diagnosis.

In other words, even if you tend to feel a little more stressed over the holidays, it might not necessarily be SAD – especially if there are other conflating factors or comorbid conditions that might explain your symptoms.

Treatments for SAD differ from case to case but are unique when compared to other mood disorders. For example, teens who develop SAD may be prescribed light therapy, a special type of therapy involving simulated sunlight. While seasonal affective disorder is its own condition, it shares many similarities with other mood disorders, such as major depressive disorder, cyclothymia, and bipolar disorder.

Furthermore, teens with a history of comorbid conditions are much more likely to struggle with seasonal affective disorder, especially conditions like:

Because seasonal affective disorder usually happens at the peak of winter, many researchers believe that sunlight – or the lack thereof – plays a primary role in the development of this mental health condition. However, that doesn’t mean your teen’s symptoms will improve with light therapy alone.

What Does Seasonal Affective Disorder in Teens Look Like?

The symptoms of seasonal affective disorder in teens will usually be like those of major depressive disorder. Major depressive disorder is one of the most common mental health problems in the world and the most well-known mood disorder. Signs and symptoms can include:

  • Feelings of hopelessness
  • Feelings of guilt
  • Mental and physical fatigue
  • Unexplained aches and pains (especially stomach pain) and occasional nausea
  • Lack of joy (anhedonia)
  • Loss of interest in old hobbies
  • Social withdrawal and isolation
  • Low mood/sadness as the new “baseline” for normal emotions
  • Lowered pain threshold, more likely to experience chronic pains
  • Emotional outbursts and increased irritability/agitation
  • Rapid weight gain or rapid weight loss
  • Loss of focus and lowered concentration
  • Signs of self-harm or suicidal ideation
  • Frequently discussing/fantasizing about death or disappearing
  • And more

A diagnosis of seasonal affective disorder in teens requires a thorough psychological assessment. Any teen with depressive symptoms over the course of a seasonal shift may be a candidate for seasonal affective disorder, but to be more specific, a diagnosis is usually only met when:

  • A teen meets most of the criteria for major depressive disorder.
  • A teen’s depressive symptoms occur almost exclusively during specific seasons, such as only feeling depressed or showing signs of major depression in the summer or the winter.
  • A teen’s seasonal shift in mood has been occurring for at least two years in a row. Symptoms of SAD can occur sporadically, meaning they become worse in some years or don’t flare up at all in some years. Therefore, the validity of this specific point might depend on a teen’s mental health history and individual circumstances.
  • A teen’s depressive episodes must be more severe or frequent during the shift in seasons in order to be distinguished as seasonal affective disorder. This is important if a teen has already experienced other mood disorders or has had a history of mental health problems.

Therapy and Other Treatment Options

Seasonal affective disorder is thought to be at least somewhat related to the body’s ability to regulate mood through the release of certain neurotransmitters or brain chemicals like serotonin. The release of serotonin may be linked to the body’s circadian rhythm and may be dependent on a healthy supply of sunlight.

Long-term sunlight deprivation, especially in teens with rigid school schedules (where they might wake up and be in school before the sun has risen and be back on their way home after sunset), can affect a teen’s hormone and neurotransmitter production and may affect their mood and mentality as a result.

Outside of any potential neurochemical origins, seasonal affective disorder in teens might also be linked to an increase in holiday-related stressors, both over the winter and summer months. The weather alone can be a factor – it being consistently too warm or too cold – as are elements such as family stress related to the holidays, financial stressors, or even an increase in rates of domestic violence towards the end of the year.

Addressing seasonal affective disorder in teens means figuring out what any individual teen’s circumstances are. There are no quick fixes or effective cookie-cutter cures – a treatment plan must take a teen’s living situation, concurrent physical and mental health issues, as well as family history into consideration. Here are a few different modalities and common treatments.

  • Light Therapy – For teens with winter-based seasonal affective disorder, a doctor may prescribe a special light box for frequent light therapy. 
  • Medication – Depending on the severity of the condition and comorbid conditions, a teen with seasonal affective disorder may be prescribed antidepressants or other psychiatric medication.
  • Talk Therapy – Cognitive-behavioral therapy is the golden standard for depressive psychotherapy and can also help reduce symptoms of seasonal affective disorder.
  • Sleep Hygiene – Sleep habits can break down over the peak winter or summer months, which can affect mood and mental health. Better sleep hygiene can improve both mental and emotional functioning.

Can Seasonal Affective Disorder Be Prevented?

If a teen’s symptoms tend to ramp up towards the winter months (or the summer months), then a professional mental health treatment plan can be developed to plan ahead accordingly and start addressing the issue before it flares back up.

In some cases, this can mean starting treatment even before the depression usually starts to come back. This can help some teens avoid an episode of seasonal affective disorder altogether.

For more information about depression or seasonal affective disorder, contact Visions Treatment Centers.

Categories
Communication Depression Mental Health

How to Help a Friend That is Depressed

Depression is a difficult condition to live with. It is also difficult when you don’t know how to help a friend that is depressed – or even a family member. Depressive symptoms can often mislead the person struggling with them, making them feel like things are far worse than they are or that they themselves are bad, worthless, unloved, or ignored.

How to Help a Friend that is Depressed

Contending with these feelings is difficult, and sometimes, depression can be a frustrating thing to deal with in a friendship. But if you stay patient, take care of yourself, and heed professional advice, you can continue to provide meaningful support to your loved one.

1. Support Their Treatment

It goes without saying that you should not undermine their treatment. Regardless of your personal beliefs or opinions, and regardless of what they’re doing to get better, don’t mock it or scoff at it. Maybe you are skeptical about talk therapy or don’t think that antidepressants work. Or maybe your friend started on herbal medication, such as St. John’s wort, and finds that it is effective for them.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s a placebo or a real therapeutic effect. If it is helping your friend – and if they are feeling better – support them. And if it stops working, don’t rub their noses in it or play “I told you so.” Help them find another way.

2. Don’t Spread the Word

This is another no-brainer, but it needs to be said – don’t gossip. Aside from avoiding nasty rumors, it’s also important to keep quiet about your friend’s feelings, experiences, and well-being. That’s their business, and who they share that information with is their business as well.

If your friend feels ready to talk about their depression with others, it should be up to them who they tell and what they say, and what they leave out. If you’re who they confide in, then it’s doubly important that you don’t break that trust by saying something you shouldn’t have.

3. Offer Distractions

This is an important piece of advice. You should be there to listen to your friend and make sure that they know someone hears them and is there for them, especially outside of the family. But consider how you might be able to pull them out of a moment of rumination or circular thinking.

These are common in depression – negative thought patterns that start with a self-loathing or anxious thought and spiral into worse and worse assumptions and feelings, including things like “it doesn’t matter if I disappear” or “no one cares anyway.”

Providing an apt distraction is a good way to pull your friend away from these thoughts whenever they begin to develop. Stick to the things you used to have fun with – even if your friend struggles to enjoy their old hobbies, revisiting them with you from time to time might help them crack a smile or laugh at an old memory.

4. Learn More About Depression and Other Mood Disorders

There is plenty to learn. Depression comes in many different shapes and forms, and understanding which one your friend is struggling with can tell you a lot about what to expect and what they might feel like. In fact, it’s a great step in learning how to help a friend that is depressed.

Listening to stories or experiences of other people with similar diagnoses can give you the tools to further empathize with how your friend feels, or put yourself in their shoes when thinking about what to say or how to talk to them. In addition to major depressive disorder, other depressive disorders include:

If you have more specific questions, you can always ask your friend to help explain.

5. You Don’t Need to Be There Always

This can be hard to hear for some people, but it’s not healthy for you or for your friend if you try to be there 24/7. This reliance on your help and continued care creates unhealthy expectations and can create a powerful and dangerous interdependent relationship.

Furthermore, while we should take care of those we love, it’s one step too far to try and dedicate yourself to someone’s care without equal consideration for your own well-being and mental health.

This is especially important if your friend is, in fact, your partner, girlfriend, or boyfriend. It’s easy to see yourself as the “provider” of emotional support and mental wellness, but don’t become their emotional crutch or provide them with affirmations at every turn in response to their self-loathing.

The goal of depression treatment is to reduce depressive symptoms and, in turn, help the individual strengthen their resilience against future episodes through stronger self-esteem and better stress management skills. These are difficult tasks that emphasize a person’s ability to take care of their own emotional needs. Your “care” can end up harming them if it goes too far.

6. Don’t Allow Threats

It must be said – if your friend or partner begins to threaten to hurt themselves if you leave or don’t do as they say, it’s time to draw a line and seek help, both for yourself and for them. If need be, distance yourself for your own safety.

Depression does not give anyone the right to threaten one another, and people who are depressed do not suddenly lose empathy for one another or lose sight of the concept of agency. Your friend might be worried about losing their loved ones, and they might doubt your love for them – or anyone else’s – but that does explain nor justify threatening self-harm and suicide.

It’s a very different matter altogether if your friend is talking about self-harm or suicide outside of the context of a threat or without the implication that they might “use” it.

Self-harm and suicidal ideation are common symptoms of depression, often culminating in a suicide attempt. Sometimes, there are no warning signs. If you’re worried about your loved one’s immediate safety, get help as soon as possible.

7. Seek Help

At the end of the day, if you don’t know what else to do, it is perfectly valid and completely encouraged to seek help – whether it’s the help of a teacher, a parent, a counselor, or a therapist.

This is especially important if you feel you aren’t equipped to deal with some of the questions and situations you find yourself in – such as struggling to talk a friend out of suicide, witnessing self-harm, or watching someone you love and care about do something reckless or senseless out of a need to feel.

You are not responsible for your friend, no matter how much you do or how much you care. And more importantly, you can never take their depression away from them. It isn’t in your power, nor is it in anyone else’s. Mental health is complicated, individual, and entirely unfair.

Teen Depression Treatment

Some people go through their entire lives feeling optimistic and ready, with barely a moment of self-doubt. And for some people, life itself feels like a non-starter, and it’s not something you can convince them of otherwise.

Get help. Convince your loved one to go seek help with you. Fight depression alongside them. But never feel responsible for their fight, or feel like it’s a fight you must win for them. Putting that pressure on yourself can backfire, especially if your friend’s mental health worsens over time.

Reach out to Visions Treatment Centers for more information about teen depression and depression treatment for adolescents.

Categories
Depression Mental Health

The Effects of Depression in Teens

The teen years are known for mood swings and irrational behavior – but there’s a clear line between not thinking straight and struggling to think. With that said, today we’ll take a closer look at the effects of depression in teens, how to recognize the signs, and where to get help.

Adolescence and Mental Health

Adolescence is hard enough as it is for most kids, but some – as many as ten percent – are fighting more than just the effects of puberty. Conditions like depression, anxiety, ADHD, and even drug use disorder often begin in the early to late teens and continue to affect millions of people throughout adulthood.

Among children and young teens, anxiety, ADHD, and depression constitute the three most diagnosed mental health issues, at rates ranging between ten and four percent. Many teens diagnosed with one disorder also suffer from symptoms of another. Learning to recognize the signs of depression in teens can help you get them the professional guidance they need and access to the treatment they deserve.

Depression or Sadness?

Whenever the topic of depression and its increasing rates becomes a mainstream discussion, there are concerns around the risk of pathologizing sadness. But recognizing depression does not mean ruling out the importance and significance of healthy human emotions, including negative ones. Depression is not extreme sadness or extreme grief.

Depression is characterized mainly by the absence of joy. It is anhedonia, loss of pleasure, and the inability to reach a neutral baseline or feel happy. Even if kids can laugh at a joke or crack a smile, if they are struggling with depression, those fleeting moments do nothing to bring them back from what feels like a constant brink.

Our understanding of depression, as well as other common mood disorders, has allowed us to improve the way in which we address the issue, draw attention to it, and try to bring it to light. Psychiatry is an evolving field and a relatively new one in human history – it’s not that teens and children weren’t as depressed before, but it wasn’t as often named or diagnosed, and there weren’t very many good ways to deal with it.

Recognizing the Effects of Depression in Teens

Depression can be characterized by many different things, but one of its primary symptoms or characteristics is the loss of joy and pleasure.

In teens and children, this can be recognized by a loss of interest in hobbies and play, as well as a significant drop in the amount of time spent with other people. Depressed teens tend to spend more time alone and may not even necessarily spend it doing the things they like doing.

Restlessness and Too Much Sleep

Oversleeping and feeling restless at night are also common signs of depression or other mental health issue. Sleep is crucial for kids and teens, and while it’s normal for teens to struggle with falling asleep even more than their adult counterparts for biological reasons, depressed teens often sleep in far longer than their peers and struggle to feel well-rested even after several hours spent oversleeping.

Emotional and Physical Fatigue

This brings us to emotional and physical fatigue, another important set of symptoms in depressed teens. “Feeling tired,” in the sense that one is affected by a form of exhaustion that bites to the very bone and can’t be rested away, is a common sentiment of depression in teens. It affects everything, from cognitive function – such as problem-solving, critical thinking, and memory – to physical strength and stamina and the will to act. Depression can sap a person’s motivation to the point that it becomes difficult to do even the simplest things, such as brush one’s teeth and hair or keep a room tidy.

Some other important effects of depression in teens include:

Depression, Appetite, and Body-Image

Puberty is a difficult time for most teens. Rapid physical change can be tough to get used to, especially when it happens gradually, in spurts, and often asymmetrically. Some body parts outgrow others, and then there are a whole host of awkward and sudden adjustments, from body odor to acne.

For teens with depression or anxiety, these changes can often trigger and reinforce a whole host of personal physical complexes and help foster a negative body image. Bullying in all its forms, whether physical or digital, can feed these thoughts.

That is why depression often co-occurs with eating disorders and body dysmorphia. In some cases, physical starvation or binge eating becomes an abstract form of self-harm and a sign of poor coping. To make matters worse, conditions like anorexia are among the most fatal mental health conditions and are often difficult to treat without an intensive mental intervention after hospitalization.

If your teen’s depression begins to affect them physically – leading to dangerous eating habits, such as binging and purging behavior, starvation, or growing body image issues – it’s important to step in early and talk about getting help.

Nihilism, Self-Harm, and Suicide

Sometimes, teens fixate on strange things and get into even stranger hobbies. Some teens make it their hobby to specialize in horror fiction and get into morbid curiosities. But an interest in the macabre is not the same as a depression-related fixation on death and suicide.

An important distinction to make here is that depressed teens are often preoccupied specifically with their own death, fantasizing either about what the world might be like without them or whether anyone would notice if they were gone. A common train of thought behind many cases of suicidal ideation is the thought that others would be better off or wouldn’t notice if they died.

It is crucial to recognize and address these thoughts and questions before they materialize into something more concrete. Some teens are completely quiet about how they feel – and even adults who contemplate suicide might do so for months or years without telling anyone before committing suicide one day. However, if your teen does discuss the topic quite often, take it seriously. It’s often more than just an act for attention.

Depression Throughout the Ages

At the end of the day, it’s also important to remember that depression is far from a teen issue. Rates of depression may be higher in older age groups than we can statistically verify, and the three age groups most likely to commit suicide include ages 25-34, 75-84, and 85+ at the highest, at a rate of roughly 21 deaths per 100,000. In contrast, only about 14 out of 100,000 people between the ages of 15-24 commit suicide per year – the lowest among all teen-and-adult age groups.

Depression can often go unnoticed, even among loved ones. Keep an eye out for subtle signs, such as behavioral changes, social changes, sudden weight loss or weight gain, or a loss of interest in personal hobbies. Recognizing depression in those we love is an important first step toward getting help.

For more information about depression in teens and residential treatment options, reach out to Visions Treatment Centers today.

Categories
Depression

How to Help a Teenager with Depression

Depression affects teens more than nearly any other subset of the population, at a prevalence of 17 percent versus 8.4 percent among all US adults. That is at least 4 million kids yearly affected by one or more episodes of major depression. Nearly 3 million teens (12 percent of teens) struggle with a form of depression-related impairment, affecting their ability to perform well at school or function daily. 

While we have made great strides in recognizing depression and combatting the stigma against acknowledging mental health issues in our communities, the fight is far from over. Less than half of all teens affected by depression get the care they need – and only about 46 percent of teens diagnosed with severe depression received necessary treatment in the past year. 

In this article, we’re exploring how to help a teenager with depression.

How to Help a Teenager with Depression

As a parent, you want the best for your teenager. If you suspect your teen may be experiencing symptoms of depression, you may feel uncertain about how to help. Fortunately, there are a few things you can do to provide your teen the care they need.

If you or a loved one are struggling with depressive thoughts or have been diagnosed with depression, it might help to know that you are not alone. But that is not enough. Professional mental healthcare is necessary for the effective treatment of depression. Advocate for your loved ones, and ensure they get the help they need. 

In the meantime, you can learn more about how to help your loved one at home or school through the Internet and by consulting their therapist directly. 

Here’s what you need to know about depression and how to help a teenager with depression.

Signs and Symptoms of Teen Depression

Teen depression can come in many different forms. It doesn’t always look the same. A few identifying signs are prevalent in most cases, though. These include: 

  • A severe and sudden downward shift in mood.
  • Frequently discussing death and suicide, or life without/after them. 
  • Struggling to focus or concentrate on anything, plummeting grades or harder time listening/being there. 
  • Lack of interest in old hobbies, joylessness most of the time (anhedonia). 
  • Not hanging out with friends anymore, having trouble finding new friends. Social isolation. 
  • Sudden unexplained weight gain or weight loss. 
  • Consistently low mood, a low “baseline” of emotion, meaning a teen’s mental default state is to be sad. 

Understanding the signs and symptoms of depressive illnesses is essential. Still, it is also important to know that depression can come in different forms – not all teens affected by a mood disorder are diagnosed with major depressive disorder. Other common depressive disorders include seasonal affective disorder and bipolar disorder. 

Types of Teen Depression

Depressive illnesses are often called mood disorders because their primary symptoms include depression or mania. Mania is a form of inappropriately elevated mood, usually juxtaposed with varying episodes of plummeting mood. 

Whereas depressed teens struggle to get out of bed, a manic person may be restless and insomniac, able to maintain high levels of energy for an inordinate amount of time, and may experience strange, temporary feelings of grandeur. Depression with mania is usually called bipolar disorder, and comes in different forms, including bipolar I (at least one manic episode) and bipolar II (cycling between hypomania, or a sub-manic mood, and depression). 

Other types of depression may be signposted by unique symptoms or characteristics, such as PMDD revolving around a person’s menstrual and hormone cycle. At the same time, seasonal affective disorder is usually tied to seasonal changes between autumn and winter. 

Treatments may differ between these conditions. While therapy and antidepressant medication are common first-line treatments, teens affected by seasonal affective disorder may be prescribed light therapy and vitamin D supplements. In contrast, teens with PMDD may be prescribed medical birth control to help improve symptoms. 

What Causes Depression?

When we look at a mental health condition like teen depression, there are two different contributing types of “causes.” These are internal factors (genes), and external factors (environmental stress, acute trauma, social exclusion or bullying, and other preventable and unavoidable factors). 

Rather than think of definitive causes, it is more accurate to think of these risk factors as percentage multipliers contributing to the potential onset of depression. They can increase the chance of depression developing but never guarantee it. In cases where a teen struggles with depression, a variety of different preventable and unavoidable causes rather than a single, simple reason. 

Just as certain things contribute to the risk of developing teen depression, there are also so-called protective factors that help lower the chances of depression in a teen. These include a more positive, healthier parent-child relationship, healthy physical attributes (better sleep, better diet, more exercise), avoiding negative coping habits (drinking, smoking, polydrug use, yoyo dieting/binge eating), and better access to mental healthcare. Protective factors can also play an essential rule in treatment, helping minimize symptoms and introduce healthier means of coping with stressors and depressive episodes. 

The Importance of Professional Help

If your loved one is diagnosed with depression or likely depressed, then your ability to help them yourself is sadly limited. You can’t think or feel for someone else, and depression isn’t something you can talk someone out of. Even therapists are limited in their ability to help patients alone. Usually, they apply their treatments in conjunction with pharmacological help (antidepressants), family support, and lifestyle changes. 

Treating depression requires a holistic and comprehensive approach. It’s not something you should tackle on your own, let alone without professional help. If your loved one is depressed, talk to them about potentially getting help together. Let them know they aren’t alone. Be there for them, help them schedule an appointment for an evaluation and potential diagnosis, and bring them to their first few therapy sessions. Talk to their therapist, and get a better understanding of what you can do to help. 

Do Not Underestimate Your Influence

A friend or family member’s influence on a depressed person is immense, even if it doesn’t feel that way. Even on the worst days, when you’re being pushed away and it feels like you can’t get through to the person you love, your efforts mean something, and they make a difference. 

Continue to be a role model for self-care and support your teen in every step of the treatment process. Do not give up. Things do get easier over time. 

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