5 Warning Signs of Depression in Your Teen
Suicide is the third cause of death among teens. Teens get depressed and because they are under the influence of adolescence. They are aware that they will die, but they are not always aware that things will get better if they DO NOT die. I talk to teens who have had thoughts of suicide. Some have had thoughts that morning while others had thoughts years ago during a parent’s divorce or some other crisis and they are now better. Teens are always going to be sad over something, everyone gets sad, but how do you know the difference? How do you know your teen isn’t depressed and having thoughts of being overwhelmed by their sadness? You don’t always know. This is the scary part.
Teens are concrete thinkers initially and at some point they switch to abstract thinkers. Thank Goodness because concrete thinkers have no ability to think of how their current actions can have an effect on the future. Abstract thinkers do. One question that I ask when my patient has attempted suicide is, “What was your intention with this attempt? Were you hoping to die?” Believe it or not sometimes they aren’t. The finality of death hits them soon after the attempt and they realize that they just wanted the pain to stop.
This pain can be paralyzing. It does not allow grades to stay up, or homework to be done. They are a different kid. Boys who may think that depression is too “girly” may get angry and lash out or get into fights. Depression can affect their lives in so many ways that they ultimately stop maturing. These teens become stuck in this stage of adolescence. When they finally come out of it, they pick up where they left off emotionally and this can leave a teen who should be heading off to college sitting on the couch unable to do anything. The price is simply too high to ignore the warning signs. Almost all teens give warning signs. Their survivors talk about them.
1. Change in grades
2. Keeping to themselves and not wanting to hang out with friends or family.
3. Giving things away or losing interest in things that once made them happy.
4. A change in eating or sleeping behavior.
5. Some teens will actually say that they want to die or they just don’t want to live.
The best treatment we have for depression is therapy and/or medication. They work very well together, but the therapy is very important. Therapy does not mean that you are crazy and I know this is what teens are afraid of when I mention it. Therapy is a great place to develop coping skills to handle the feelings before the feelings take control over you. Taking the medication does not meant that you will be on it forever, but it does mean that you need a boost right now to get you started on the road to recovery. Treating depression also involves treating family and friends. Teens may communicate how sad they are to friends. Not wanting to be disloyal, friends may keep information to themselves thinking that their friend would never do that. So treatment includes:
1. Be sure everyone in contact with the depressed teen agrees that any thoughts of the teen wanting to hurt themselves will prompt a 911 call.
2. Since contracts have not been shown to work, attempts will be handled by scheduling a visit with the therapist and if needed admitting the teen to a hospital for a mental health hold.
3. An appointment with your medical doctor is important because there are other illnesses that cause or look like depression.
Depression is the leading cause of suicide. Suicide is the third leading cause of death among teens. Although we do not need to be paranoid, we owe it to our teens to pay attention in the event that they need our help.
Related posts:
2 Responses Leave a comment
I have been looking looking around for this kind of information. Will you post some more in future? I’ll be grateful if you will.
Happy to do it KonstantinMiller. If there is something in particular you would like me to talk about let me know that too!