4 Troubled Teens Blog

Teen depression is a prevalent problem that has been associated with a wide range of physical, emotional and behavioral challenges. Now, researchers indicate that allergies may be associated with depression.

An April 8 MSNBC article bylined "Rick Ansorge, Eric Metcalf and the editors of Prevention Health Books" provided the following details about the possible link between depression and allergies:

Scientists acknowledge that allergens can contribute to mood alterations. In a 3-year study of 36 people with allergies, Paul S. Marshall, PhD, a psychologist at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, found that 69 percent reported feeling more irritable when their allergies flared up; 63 percent reported more fatigue; 41 percent said that they had difficulty staying awake; and 31 percent reported feeling "sad."

So the idea that allergies might exacerbate mild depression in a few people who have other allergic symptoms isn't that far-fetched to some researchers.

"My guess is if there is a connection, it is not true for all people with allergies or all people with depression," says Marianne Wamboldt, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, both in Denver. "But for a small subset of individuals, it does appear that these conditions do seem to exacerbate each other."

Labels: depression, allergies, research

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Dr. Herbert Hendin believes that measuring the intensity of a person's emotion can determine whether that person is at high risk of attempting suicide. Using a set of nine questions which are collectively called the Affective States Questionnaire, medical professionals can more accurately assess suicide risk, New York's Journal News reported:

"Hendin said his method can detect with greater accuracy than ever before the subtle indicators of suicidal behavior, with fewer false positives than other assessment tools. The tool was even more accurate when applied to patients who displayed risk factors such as substance abuse and poor functioning on the job or in relationships, Hendin said."

Hendin's study involved surveying 283 veterans who were both inpatients and outpatients at the Michael De Bakey VA Medical Center in Houston. He has found that patients on the verge of attempting suicide have a lower tolerance for intense emotions, yet average more than three times more intense emotional episodes than do non-suicidal patients.

Labels: suicide, research, emotional_issues, risky_behaviors

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Postnatal depression, and its effects on infants, gets a lot of attention. But a new study has found that moms mood during pregnancy deserves some attention, too.

A Feb. 5 article on MSNBC.com provided the following details about the study, which was led by Dale F. Hay, a professor of psychology at Cardiff University in Wales:

• The researchers reviewed data on 120 British teens and their parents from inner-city areas. The youth were interviewed at 4, 11 and 16 years of age.
• About one-third of expecting moms were considered depressed during pregnancy, which is higher than the current worldwide estimate of about 18 percent of pregnant women
• Teens born to mothers who were depressed during pregnancy were four times more likely than others to show violent behaviors by age 16.
  
• While 8.5 percent of teens born to chipper expecting moms showed the antisocial behaviors, about 29 percent of those born to depressed moms showed the same.
  

Labels: pregnancy, depression, research, aggression

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An Australian study suggests that taking fish oil may help young people with schizophrenia avoid psychotic incidents.

• Dr. Paul Amminger of the University of Melbourne studied 76 people with schizophrenia
• Forty-one study subjects took fish oil tablets four times a day for three months, and the rest took sugar tablets.
  
• Among those who took fish oil, only two had psychotic incidents
  
• Among those who took sugar tablets, 11 had psychotic incidents.
  

Dr. Amminger said that previous studies have found that fatty acids such as fish oil can affect mental health, but it is too early to say whether fish oil should be prescribed for mental illness.

This study appears in the archives of General Psychiatry.

Labels: research, schizophrenia, fish oil

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A controversial study in the Journal of the American Medical Association claims that popular drugs that are widely prescribed for depression only work in severe cases.

• Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania studied 728 adults after ranking their symptoms of depression.
  
• Those with moderate or minor depression receive little benefit from drugs like Lexapro, Prozac, or Paxil, which did not work better than sugar pills.
  
• However, those with severe depression, did benefit from the drugs.

"I think this study could dampen enthusiasm for anti-depression medications a bit , and that may be a good thing," said Dr. Erick Turner, a psychiatrist at Oregon Health and Science University. "People's expectations for the drugs will not be so high, and doctors won't be surprised if they are not curing every patient they see with medication."

Labels: antidepressants, depression, research

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Teenagers who resort to violence may be seeking respect and appreciation among their peer groups, according to a new study from Spain.

• Dr. David Ruiz and his colleagues studied 1320 teenagers in Valencia, Spain.
  
• One of their main findings was that if teens experience lowered social status and social rejection, they suffer loneliness, low self-esteem, and lowered satisfaction with their lives.
  
• This results in many teenagers using relational violence to gain acceptance.
  
• Relational violence is defined as behavior designed to provoke harm within another person's circle of friends or damage their perception of belonging to a group.

"Having high self-esteem is a key aspect because this is important in inhibiting teenagers from indulging in behavior that involves relational violence between peers at school," the author wrote in the study, which was published in the journal Psicothema.

Labels: violence, research, motivation

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A new study from Australia finds that teenagers believe there are differences between being popular and being well-liked.

• Dr. Stephanie Hawke interviewed 200 teenagers, asking them what it means to be popular and how popular kids act.
• The teens told Dr. Hawke that popular teens were likely to be bullies who engage in risk-taking behaviors, such as sex and teen drug use.
• On the other hand, well-liked teenagers were described as people who were true to themselves.
• Being popular was related to what group you associated with, rather than how you were as a person.

The good news from the study was that as children in their late teens tended to find a balance between popularity and being well-liked.

By age 17 or so, Dr. Hawke said, teens develop their own sense of self rather than just going with the flow.

Labels: bullying, research, peers, drug_use, popular

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A study from Emory University in Atlanta, GA, found that teens whose brains mature more quickly than the average are more likely to take risks.

• Dr. Gregory Berns performed a new form of brain scan called diffusion tensor imaging on 91 people ages 12 to 18 years old.
  
• He also asked them about their risk-taking, including whether they drive without a license, practice unprotected sex, or use drugs.
  
• The ones who took the most risks tended to have more mature white matter in their brains.

Adolescents who engage in risky behaviors obtain more experience in a variety of domains," Dr. Berns wrote in his report. "Their more conservative peers, in contrast, do not have as much life experience and therefore might be expected to have more mature brains.

However, this was proven untrue. In other words, having a more mature brain may make some adolescents more likely to seek out new (and potentially dangerous) experiences.

Labels: research, brain_chemistry, risky_behaviors

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Researchers have found a connection between binge drinking among college students and a decline in their ability to pay attention and use working memory. The findings were particularly troublesome because no one knows if these effects last into later life.

• Researchers studied 95 male and female students from the University of Santiago in northwest Spain. The students were between 18 and 20 years old.
• Forty-two students were classified as binge drinkers; the others did not have a drinking problem.
• The students were hooked up to electrophysiological monitors as they performed tasks associated with attention and working memory.
• The ones who engaged in binge drinking had to put in more effort to complete tasks, although they were able to perform the tasks correctly.

Dr. Florence Kellner said the significance of the research "might be up in the air, because what we don't know really is the long-term impact, which is, will these differences endure in later life? One thing we do know is that young students when they drink heavily tend to clean up their acts quite a bit when they graduate, get jobs and have families, especially when they have children."

This study and Dr. Kellner's comment appeared in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

Labels: research, college-students, binge_drinking

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Researchers at Temple University have found that teenagers who engage in heavy drinking are also more likely to smoke heavily.

Dr. Brian Daly and his colleagues used data from 2450 Philadelphia high school students in grades nine through 12. They asked the students how many cigarettes they smoked per day and how many times they had five or more drinks in a row during the last month, and found a link between binge drinking and heavy smoking.

"We can't just focus on educating adolescents about the dangers of smoking or drinking," Dr. Daly said in an Aug. 11 ScienceDaily article. "We need to address both as one health risk."

Dr. Daly's study was presented at the American Psychological Association's annual meeting.

Labels: research, teens, tobacco use, alcohol_abuse

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A new study finds that there could be advantages in teaching children resilience, positive emotions, and a sense of purpose -- advantages that include reducing the risk of teen depression. according to Dr. Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania, children who have these positive qualities are less likely to be depressed and more likely to have higher grades:

An Aug. 7 press release provided the following details from Dr. Seligman's research:

• Dr. Seligman and his colleagues reviewed 19 studies begun in 1980 of more than 2000 children ages eight to 15 years old.
• Some of the children were enrolled in the Penn Resiliency Program and the Positive Psychology Program, programs that taught assertiveness, creative brainstorming, decision-making, relaxation, and other coping skills to help them handle everyday stress and problems common to adolescents.
• Dr. Seligman found that the programs reduced the children's sense of hopelessness, anxiety, and depression, and increased their enjoyment and engagement in school.

"It is important to start in the formative school years, so positive thinking and resilience are instilled and available to handle future challenges," Dr. Seligman said Aug. 8 during a presentation at the 117th annual convention of the American Psychological Association.

Labels: depression, research, optimism

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An influential 26-year study of 847 individuals that ended in 2003 found that if people had a certain gene, they were more likely to become depressed after a traumatic life event such as bankruptcy or death of a loved one.

The same study found that if people had a different gene variant, they were more likely to go through such events without experiencing major depression. This study was widely accepted and became the basis of a belief that depression is an organic disorder that can be treated through medication.

Now a new study reports having found "no evidence of an association between the serotonin gene and depression," even if a person experiences a traumatic event. The new study, led by Dr. Neil Risch and Dr. Kathleen Merikangas, is an analysis of 14 previous studies.

In their report in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Drs. Risch and Merikangas indicated that they believe that the old study had flaws. They also wrote that the old study was widely accepted before it was widely duplicated.

Labels: depression, research, genetics

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A program that teaches impulse control can help teens who have a gene linked to risky behaviors, according to a study that was published in the journal Child Development. People who have the 5-HTTLPR gene are twice as likely to have poor self-control, and engage in risky behaviors such as drug abuse and binge drinking, the study reported.

"The findings underscore that 'nurture' can influence 'nature' during adolescence," said Dr. Kenneth Warren of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). The study was performed in conjunction with the University of Iowa and Vanderbilt University.

Researchers evaluated 641 families in rural Georgia, concentrating on 11-year-olds:

• Some study subjects had the 5-HTTLPR gene.
• A control group without the gene had no intervention.
• After two and a half years, children with the gene who participated in the program were no more likely to engage in risky behaviors than were those in the control group.

As summer vacation approaches, many parents worry about the effect that excess free time and a lack of structured activities will have on their children. One option for potentially delinquent teens during the summer -- an option that can help improve their behavior year-round -- is to enroll the child in a reputable and effective therapeutic summer camp for trouble teens.

Labels: research, genetics, troubled_teenagers

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A study from Murdoch Childrens Research Institute in Australia has determined that there is no "safe and sensible" level of drinking for teenagers.

Elya Moore tracked 1,520 children for ten years, starting when the subjects were in their mid-teens. Moore's team discovered that even teens whose drinking would fall within the "low-risk" level for adults (no more than three drinks a day) were at increased risk for alcoholism, social and legal problems, and risky sexual behaviors.

Boys in particular were affected. The more a boy drank as a teenager, the more likely he was to develop alcohol-related problems as a young adult.

This is not the first research to establish a connection between teen drinking and other problems, as several studies have noted that relationship between teen alcohol use and depression. However, the Murdoch study emphasized the degree to which "safe" teen drinking may be little more than myth.

"We found that particularly for males that those who start drinking early had higher rates of alcoholic abuse and dependence, even if they started by drinking sensibly," said George Patton, director of adolescent health research at the Royal Childrens Hospital in Melbourne, Australia.

This study appeared in the Australia and New Zealand Journal of Public Health.

Labels: research, teenagers, alcoholism

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The rate of suicide goes down during the holiday season, often by as much as 40%, according to research from the University of Oxford, London.

"Our findings are contrary to the popular view that Christmas is a time of stress and arguments," said Helen Bergman, one of the social scientists who combed through emergency room records of over 19,300 people.

The Oxford group found a decrease in rates of self-inflicted injuries on and into New Year regardless of age, family connections or social isolation.

This study appears in the journal Social Science and Medicine.

Labels: suicide, research, self-harm

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