Teen Depression in United States
Depression As Common in Teens as Adults
- 1 in 5 teens will have an episode by end of adolescence
- one problem is anxiety of what people think of them
- Before puberty number of boys to girls with social anxiety is equal
- After puberty it is twice as much for girls
- Kids who are still depressed are genetically vulnerable
- Environment they grew up in plays part in their depression
- some teens have anhedonia (an-he-DOAN-e-ah)
- Anhedonia- can't find pleasure in everyday activities
- Depressed teens replay bad experiences over and over again
- Many depressed teens lack upbeat tendency
- Many depressed teens go to self-harm blogs
- Self-harm blogs aren't understood
- Many people outside them find them disturbing
- A lot of teens turn to blogs instead of people
- Many teens post because they won't be judged
- Experts say blogs are a bad influence (they can cause relapse)
- NEDA (the eating disorder advocacy group) and To Write Love On Her Arms have ideas to stop self-harm blogs
- NEDA recently launched Proud2BMe (social netoworking site)
- TWLOHA has accumulated 250,000 followers
- With stress depression can get worse
- Some people choose hospitalization
- Some people write a list of things to live for
- Teen suicide rates are high
- Between 1950 and 1990 rate was 4 times higher
- By age 17, 1 in 4 students are aware of a student who died
- Stories of lives saved don't reach headlines
Scientist are looking for a new way to identify depression
They think a blood test can tell
- Testing only includes teens and “early onset” depression