Teen Depression
Teen Depression
in America: Troubling Statistics and Facts Teen Depression Statistics
Most Common Types of Teen Depression 1. Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) Someone with MDD will experience episodes of intense depression (lasting weeks to years), separated by periods of relatively stable moods. MDD can make it difficult to work, study, sleep, eat, and enjoy friends or activities. 2.Dysthymic Disorder Teens with Dysthymia experience depressive episodes that are less intense than in MDD but are long-lasting—at least one year or longer. 3. Bipolar Disorder (Manic Depression) Bipolar disorder is characterized by cycling mood changes ranging from extreme emotional highs to extreme lows—major depression to mania with high energy. This is a serious condition that can cause sleeplessness, hallucinations, psychosis, grandiose delusions, or paranoid rage. Bipolar disorder sometimes has a genetic component and can run in families. 4. Adjustment Disorder Adjustment disorder is a short-term condition that people find themselves in when they struggle coping with, or adjusting to, a particular source of stress such as, divorce or death of a loved one. Causes of Teen Depression Depression in teens can stem from a variety of reasons:
Source: www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/depression/index.shtml#part2)
How Does Depression Affect Teen Life? Depression can lead to other problems as well.
Conduct disorder is a range of antisocial behaviors towards others.
Conduct disorder can lead to:
Depression can also cause teens to:
If Left Untreated, Depression Can Evolve into Other Serious Conditions Ignoring depression can be dangerous. Unfortunately, 80 percent of teens don’t seek help for their depression. Depression can turn into a more serious condition for your teenager if left untreated.
Teenage Depression and Suicide Suicide is the third leading cause of death among people ages 15-24.
Signs of Teen Depression Four out of 5 teens who attempt suicide have given clear warning signs as to their intentions. Common warning signs of depression are:
teen depression major red flags Tips for Talking with Teens Communicate with your teenager to understand what is going on in their life. Let them know you are there for them no matter what. It’s okay if you need some guidance talking to your teen. After all, teenagers don’t come with instructions. Here are a few tips for successful communication with your teenager:
Options for Help Only 1 in 5 depressed teens receive help. There are many options available for teens facing mental health issues. Rawhide Boys Ranch is one of them. Residential Treatment Success Residential treatment has been very successful for individuals battling depression.
Don’t let depression affect your teenager. Open a healthy line of communication with your teenager and find out the problems they are facing and what is going on in their life. If your teenager is struggling with depression, there is help. Your teenager does not have to battle depression on their own. Related content from Rawhide's site Teen
Anger & Aggression – Causes &
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[INFOGRAPHIC] Teens aren't
socializing in the real world. And that's making them super
lonely Loneliness isn't just an age thing; it's generational, says the author of the study, San Diego State University psychology professor Jean Twenge. The percent of high school seniors who said they often felt lonely increased from 26 percent in 2012 to 39 percent in 2017. The number of 12th graders who said they often felt left out also increased, from 30 percent in 2012 to 38 percent in 2017. The data and study, published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, are from nationally representative surveys of 8.2 million U.S. adolescents between 1976 and 2017. The study comes as the topic of loneliness gains considerable interest in the health care field because of its link to mental and physical health, as well as life expectancy. Research out last year from the insurer Cigna found teens reported being loneliest, but it wasn't clear whether that was due to age or being from a different generation. "We find it is a generational difference, since loneliness increased among teens 2012 to 2017," says Twenge, who is also the author of "iGen: Why Today's Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy--and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood." The increase in loneliness might be due to how teens spend their leisure time, Twenge says. When compared to teens in earlier decades, Gen Z are less likely to "get together with friends in person, go to parties, go out with friends, date, ride in cars for fun, go to shopping malls, or go to the movies," she reported. 'A lot of time alone' Rebecca Agnello of Grand Island, New York, was "alone in her suffering" when she died by suicide at 14 in December 2015. Her father, Rob, says there is no "one cause" that led his daughter to take her life though he believes social media played a role. "With social media, there’s an appearance of having all this closeness, but we have a lot of time alone," he says. Agnello cites the book "A Mind at Home with Itself," by the author Byron Katie, which he said helped him get through the grieving process. It wouldn't resonate as much for teenagers, he says. "At that age, they can't really process the mind being at home with itself," he says. For Rebecca, who had a good group of friends, "sitting with her phone and people not getting back to her," was particularly painful, he says. Other statistics from Twenge's study:
The perils of social isolation As a heartthrob for those of Gen Z and older, musician Nick Jonas might seem an unlikely spokesman on the perils of social isolation, but he is doing so for Cigna. In a recent interview, he said balancing Type 1 diabetes with the challenges of his new solo career several years ago was difficult but not as hard as it might have been. "I was really lucky to have my brothers, my family and my touring family," said Jonas, who recently resumed performing with his brothers. "I never felt that sense of real loneliness." "Social media is an incredibly powerful tool," says Jonas, but he notes "it can be isolating at times." Today's high school seniors spend more than an hour less a day interacting with friends in person than Gen X teens did in the late 1980s. Melissa Sporn, a McLean, Virginia, child psychologist who has two teenage children, cites overscheduling that limits socializing and parents' efforts to protect kids from danger outside, which leads to more inside time on computers and phones. "Online activities hits us twice, once as a distraction and/or substitution for real social interaction and then again as a representation via social media of all the things we aren't doing and should be engaged in thus leaving us feeling lonely and FOMO," says Sporn, referring to "Fear of Missing Out." Twenge says teens' increasing isolation is not caused by more time spent on work or homework – because the data show they now spend less time on paid work and about the same amount of time or less on homework and extracurricular activities as they did in the 1980s and 1990s. Sporn disagrees: "Our students in high school are taking college classes and there is a significant uptick in the amount of homework our kids have compared to just 15 years ago," she says. Preserving social interaction Cigna’s annual global well-being survey, Well and Beyond, out March 25, will report that U.S. millennials – members of Generation Y who are 25 to 34 – appear to favor their smartphone and gaming more than socializing with friends. And spending more time on digital devices and gaming leads people to isolate more by avoiding in-person interaction, Cigna found. Cigna's questionnaire on loneliness includes ways to connect more with other people. Agnello says that's needed: "Effort has to be made in order to preserve some of this social interaction" as there are major drawbacks when it is "electronic assisted," he says. "Social media can give us the
impression that the lives of others are so good and can make
us feel like we are missing out or our lives are not as good
as that of others," says Agnello. "There are so many factors
at work here and the emphasis these days seems to be more on
achieving and accomplishing partly due to the demands of
society rather than the time we used to have just to be
children, just to relax and be who we authentically are.
There is much more pressure now."
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