Depression Among Adolescents
Is your child depressed?
What is Depression?
Depression is feeling sad, frustrated, and hopeless about life, accompanied by loss of pleasure in most activites and disturbances in sleep, appetite, concentration, and energy. These factors are the most common psychological problems of adolescence. Does your young teen express these symptoms? About 15 to 20 percent of teenagers have had one or more major depressive episodes and about 2 to 8 percent are chronically depressed.
Notice the Signs
Take notice in your teen. Is (s)he showing signs of depression? These signs could lead to other alternatives in life. Such as can lead to drug and alcohol abuse, self-loathing and self-mutilation, pregnancy, violence, and even suicide.
Confront and Comfort
After the obvious signs have been notice, take action in helping your teen. Let them vent to you about what is bothering them, but also comfort them so they feel more open to the idea of letting you in. Try not too judge or discriminate the way they are feeling, and find alternatives to find the best solution.
Help Them Take Charge!
Once you have resolved the problem or pattern in the adolescents life, encourage them to take charge and face their problems head on! They will feel as if they have a support system to back them up, but also be there if they are to fall again.
Depression and Exposure to Suicide
Is your child exposed to depression or suicide in your family or surroundings? The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health conduected a study to find the relation to exposure verses depression acts among adolescents. "The study used the public-use data set of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), which is a nationally representative stratified sample of U.S. high school students. Sample size was 4,719. Analyses predicted suicide attempts from preexisting depression and exposure to suicide of a friend or family member, controlling for previous suicide attempts, exposure, and depression. Results The greatest risk for future suicide attempts (relative risk = 3.3), was attributable to an attempt in the preceding year, controlling for preexisting and current depression and exposure." "Conclusion Exposure to suicidal behavior in a friend or family member poses risk equivalent to the risk posed by becoming severely depressed. Attending to such risks could benefit clinical practice with adolescence and public health suicide prevention efforts." Therefore, if you feel your child is being exposed to depression and they are acting upon it, the best step foward first is to comfront and comfort your child, then finding solutions to these acts.
Lenoir-Rhyne University
Exposure to Depression
Email: drinda.hensley@my.lr.edu
Location: 625 7th Avenue Northeast, Hickory, NC