Adolescents and Depression

Signs your teen is depressed

"One in five children have a diagnosable mental, emotional or behavioral disorder. And up to one in 10 may suffer from a serious emotional disturbance. Seventy percent of children, however, do not receive mental health services." (SGRMH, 1999)

Parents often find it difficult to recognize depression in their teenagers. Teens who are depressed may seem irritable more than down, which can cause parents to simply write off the symptoms as "normal" adolescent growing pains. It is essential that parents recognize when a pre-adolescent or adolescent child is depressed, because treatment is more effective with early intervention. The more serious consequence of untreated depression can be substance abuse (self-medication) and the risk of suicide. Any indication that a child has been depressed for six months or more should be treated in the same way you would if you saw signs of physical disease in that child.

One of the obstacles facing parents is that the child may simply seem like what many believe is a "normal teen"-angry, belligerent, irritable, and hostile. These behaviors when isolated to events or short periods of time may well be the growing pains of adolescence, but when they extend beyond a six-month period and seem intractable and entrenched, parents need to seek intervention before more serious indications arise.

The typical signs of depression are:

Low energy, seemingly the teen has no "get up and go"
Adolescent feels "low" most of the time
Your teen is irritable, especially when pressured to "do something"
Weight loss or gain (more than 10% of normal weight)
Insomnia or sleeplessness, or excessive need for sleep
Child expresses feelings of worthlessness
Suicidal thoughts, ideation, or threats (with or without a plan)
Drop in grades or missing school (possible claiming to be "sick" in the morning)
Drop in social activities, interactions with peers, or a sudden change in peer group
Indecisive or doesn't seem to care about anything (especially things they used to care about)
Low frustration level
Frequent bouts of crying, often for "no reason"
No longer participates in their usual activities (social, family, academic, extracurricular)

If your child says certain tell-tale things that indicate depression, and stays in this "state of mind" for more than six months, it is time to seek outside therapy or other interventions. Typical statements repeated are:

I don't know why I bother, what's the point of anything
I wish I were dead
I can't do anything right. I'm worthless. (Or variations on this theme)

If your teenager seems stuck in a pattern that includes some of these behaviors, it is time to seek therapy and make sure your child is properly treated should he or she be suffering from depression