Adolescent Depression Research Paper

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Pages: 3

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) estimates that approximately 11 percent of adolescents have a depressive disorder by age 18. Among these adolescents struggling with behavioral and emotional challenges, not more than 30% receive any sort of treatment or help they need. The remaining 70% struggle through the challenges,doing their best to make it to adulthood(NIMH,2000). Adolescent depression is a very serious problem in our society today. It affects how a teen acts, thinks and feels and can cause so many problems ranging from drug and alcohol usage, self inflictions, violence and ultimately suicide.
There are many contributing factors that increase the risk of triggering depression in adolescents. Adolescents
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It could be mistaken for typical feelings that adolescents feel when adjusting to being a teenager. Emotional changes such as feelings of anger and/or sadness, thoughts of committing suicide, loss of interest in normal activities or friends and family, trouble thinking or remembering things, low self esteem and continuous fixations on past failures and so on. Behavioral changes such as alcohol and drug usage, tiredness and loss of energy, insomnia, self inflictions, disruptive behavior, neglected appearance and so on. A combination of these symptoms can indicate that a teen is suffering from …show more content…
Even if the problem is not that of depression, it still needs to be attended to. Some adolescents may/would not be able to explain what they are feeling or some deny what they are feeling. Trusting in one’s instinct is very important. Secondary prevention is seeking professional help, making an appointment with a specialist for a depression screening. When choosing a professional, seek your child’s opinion, if a teenager is not comfortable with one specialist, seek for another provider. The most common and effective way to treat a depressed teen are psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, interpersonal therapy and medication. Psychotherapy allows an adolescent to explore events that are troubling them and also them on how to cope with situations. Also, cognitive behavioral therapy helps an adolescents change negative patterns on behaving and thinking. Interpersonal therapy focuses on how an adolescent can develop healthy attitudes in school life and personal life. Lastly, medication relieves an adolescent and it is sometimes taken alongside therapy (MHA, 2014). If one thinks an adolescent is in immediate danger of self inflictions or harm or attempting suicide, make sure people are around the teen. Call a local emergency number or take the teen to the nearest