Adolescence is challenging enough, but when it comes to helping them, it can be even harder.
The joy in life must coexist with sadness, moodiness, and grumpiness. A teen in the midst of hopelessness might well be in a major depressive episode. You mustn’t take your teenager’s mood swings lightly; after all, depression is a common ailment in adolescence, affecting one in five teenagers.
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What generally is depression in a teenager?
Several forms of depression exist but are all classified as mood disorders. In order to be diagnosed as depressed, symptoms must appear for at least two weeks. Most often, the rule is that all depressive disorders affect the individual’s life, how he thinks and feels, and, therefore, what his motivation for eating, sleeping, and schoolwork is like.
As a parent of a depressed teenager, you may typically be asking: What causes depression in teens? Several forms of depression are caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain, whereas some depression depends on surrounding conditions. Depending on the case, genetic factors, hormonal influences, and life experiences account for a teenager’s depression.
Some common depressive disorders that could be impacting your teen include major depression, manic depression, or perinatal depression.
Major depression: Major depression is a common depressive disorder characterized by persistent depression symptoms.
Manic depression: Teenage patients suffering mania and depression will show the usual signs of hopelessness and indifference, but during a manic phase, the teen might feel limitless energy, engage in speech at a rapid pace, answer many questions in quick succession, or have increased paranoia about things in life.
Perinatal depression: Perinatal depression is where a parent has the onset of depression from the time they are pregnant to shortly after they give birth. This is all the more clinical in more mature adults, but a teenage mother can fall victim too.
Persistent depressive disorder: This lasts more than two years and may last for years. Its symptoms therefore tend to be milder than other forms of depression.
Seasonal depression: Seasonal depression sets in as the seasons change, usually in spring and fall and sometimes even summer.
Teenage Depression Symptoms
What makes a teenager depressed? How does one know when the process of depression kicks in for a teenager? In understanding your child’s depression so that one can tackle the issue with more confidence.
There is confusion between sadness and depression in certain parents. It can be said that the difference between the two is that in teens, depression finds itself typically as a long-lasting bad mood or grief.
The symptoms of teenage depression can include:
- Pessimism
- Lethargy
- Loss of interest in activities they once enjoyed
- Loss of both enjoyment and effort
- Sleep pattern changes
- Changes in food habits
- Failure in schoolwork or employment
- Withdrawal from family and friends
- Participating in risky or harmful behavior
- Suicidal thoughts or ideation
Tips for discussing teen depression
This can appear intimidating for a parent attempting to approach his or her teenager about feelings. Teenagers are probably not just a very open type to unearth their feelings, especially where parents are concerned. The variance in family responses will differ. While some teenagers might feel a sense of closeness to their parents and find it easy to talk, others certainly would not do so easily.
So how will you talk to a teenager about depression? A more organized way is to adopt when having a talk with a teen about depression:
Be patient: Anxiety is the most significant aspect of discussing teenage depression involving teenage adolescents. Rage and irritability push the adolescent further away and make them unwilling to open the door to discussion. Rather, be patient and give them space to open up to you when they’re ready.
Listen to them: Most teenagers would rather avoid confrontations and personal questions when possible. Instead of confronting them with a dozen questions, sit down, listen, and wait for them to reach out. This will help your children feel less pressured and more willing to discuss their issues.
Give Them Validation: Parents want to solve their teens’ problems for them. This may lend towards pitying them more than respecting their feelings. Whenever a teenager comes to you for distressing matters, sympathize with them and tell them that you understand.
Don’t dictate how they should feel. They have the right to feel what they feel, and what you may think is no big deal could be quite the opposite for them.
Be supportive: If you already have a good relationship with your child, it’s never too late to strengthen that relationship, which is precisely what being supportive is meant to do. Support can include walking in your teen’s shoes. Sympathize, empathize, and understand.
While you have every right to feel frustrated about the issue, what you can do is act as support in their trials and tribulations. Remember that depression makes it challenging to get through daily activities. Your kid might be slacking off on chores and schoolwork not because he or she is lazy but perhaps because of something else that needs work, like depression.
Encourage Treatment: If you think that your teen is depressed, then you might be wondering whether they should see a doctor.
Bring up the subject of therapy delicately and gently, as many may view it as too overly stigmatized—even some teens. Be patient, and only gently encourage your teenager to seek therapeutic treatment. Some teens will immediately be receptive to going to therapy, and others will very much not. As a parent, it is your prerogative to be patient and a gentle advocate for treatment. If they want nothing to do with it, don’t force the issue. Let them decide when to seek help when they are ready. In the meantime, remember to be supportive.
Treating depression among teenagers
There are various treatment options available for addressing teenage depression, including:
- Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)
- Interpersonal therapy (IPT)
- Attachment-based family therapy (ABFT)
Which therapeutic approach is suggested for your teen will mostly depend on the specific symptoms and depressive disorder of that teen. Mostly, talk therapies are used, and each attempts to target different components of depression. In treating your teen, one, two, or even several of these therapies might be combined by the therapist.
The treatment plan for your child will often be drawn up by the teen’s therapist depending on an initial consultation and evaluation. Medications may also be prescribed to alleviate your child’s symptoms of depression.
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