Cognitive and physical treatments for adolescent depression

Teen Depression

Stress and modern life are far more ingrained in modern culture, often causing a greater preponderance of mental disorders in almost all population dynamics. The teen population is not eliminated as a candidate for a disorder just because they may be young. In fact, mental disorders affect 1 in 5 teenagers. The prevalence of mental disorders in this population should encourage an abundance of treatment programs, but sadly, this is not the case. Because the diagnosis of an individual's mental state is subjective in nature, many troubled teens remain untreated. Depression in the youth population is a common occurrence, yet the diagnosis and treatment seem to slip through the cracks (Ellison and Verma, 2003).

Depression is often difficult to diagnose, and the health care industry contributes to the overlooking of depression in teens because of the overwhelming desire to keep costs down, and the difficulty in getting teens to be honest about their feelings. What are typical adolescent behaviors, for instance, and what are risk symptoms for depression? The factors of depression are open for interpretation, which results in different doctors looking for different things. When treated, teens usually receive pharmacological solutions, often causing more harm than good. Also, up to 50% of all depressed patients seen by general physicians are not identified as depressed (Schab, 2008). Clinically, though, new methods of cognitive and psychological therapy need to be developed that will provide a more effective, long-term, and safer form of therapy.

Clinically, depression refers to a state of mood that is expressed as sadness, melancholy, or aversion to activity, whether that be social of familial. It is a mental health disorder that has numerous sets of circumstances and symptoms, among which there are several that may be categorized:

Anger and/or irritability

Persistent sadness, often with no reason, feeling of emptiness

Anxiousness, panic, anxiety

Changing in sleeping patterns -- either wanting to retreat and sleep more or continual insomnia

Lack of appetite, or significant weight gain or loss

Irritability or restlessness, malaise, loss of energy

Achy feelings -- flu-like symptoms

Thoughts of suicide or death/dying ("Understanding Depression," 2010.)

Depression is not uncommon; up to 16% of all Americans are likely to have symptoms at some point in their life. Depression does not have a single cause; however, it may be genetic, personality, trauma, stress, hormones, physical conditions, and/or other psychological disorders. Biological influences of depression could be illness, light from the seasons, neurotransmitter malfunction, molds, sleep difficulties, or even drug abuse or mixtures of drugs and alcohol (Hendrie, 2009). Depression is actually more common among teens than adults. Many times, this is due to ignorance of the seriousness of problems, as well as the overreaction of many teens towards potential solutions to their problems (Cooperstein, 1999). According to a 2010 study by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), suicide is the third leading cause of death in young adults from 15-24 years. Over 90% of these cases are caused directly from undetected, misdiagnosed, or undertreated depression (Teen Health, 2011).

Signs of Depression in Adolescents - One of the difficulties in diagnosing teens focuses on the fact that it is quite normal for teens to undergo spontaneous mood changes, irritable behaviors, excessive sleeping or eating, and loss of control over self-emotions. Many adults view teen behavior as simply a part of adolescence and do not assign the symptoms with the beginning stages of depression. It is often shocking for parents to find that their teen is clinically depressed -- losing interesting in school, friends, and life in gender. For this reason, it is important for parents, colleagues, and teachers to have a rubric with which to identify early signs of depression among adolescents (Focus Adolescent Services, 2011).

Teens often exhibit sad or teary behavior during adolescence, often as a result of raging hormones coursing through their bodies. Teens who go beyond this and are sad or tear up for seemingly no reason over time, who write poetry on melancholic themes, who listen to gloomy music, who take on patterns of antisocial behavior well beyond typical mood swings are all signs of early onset depression. It is the habitual and robustness of these themes that provide the clues. Teens that undergo feelings of tremendous despondency, feel that life is not worth living, that the world is a droll and ugly place, and put no effort into living happily are at risk. These teens feel pessimistic about their own future, and usually the future of others, and believe negativity surrounds them like a cloud (Portner, 2001).

These feelings of negativity create disconnectedness with family and friends that often result in social isolation which, like a self-fulfilling prophecy, tends to sever even more connections and buttress isolation. A study from Brown University reported that many parents were unable and unwilling to see these types of behavior as symptoms of depression, regardless of the level of communication they held beforehand. In addition, the lack of parental and familial communication contribute to a heighten sense of guilt, low self-esteem, infliction of self-blame, and a sense of responsibility for anything that goes amiss (Statistics -- Adolescent Depression, 2009).

Other symptoms, again on a more regular or patterned basis, include: frequent complaints of headaches, dizziness, nausea, and back pain; severe lack of attention span and concentration; changes in eating and sleeping habits; and an unwillingness to attend school or have a social life with their friends (Teen Depression, 2010). More severe signs include alcohol or drug abuse which teens believe will alleviate their symptoms; self-injury (cutting, banging, etc.); or even fantasies about death and, in extreme cases, attempted suicide (Bernhardt, 2008).

Principal Causes of Adolescent Depression - As noted, teen depression is difficult to diagnose at times because it is so imitative of many normal adolescent reactions and behaviors. Teen suicide, typically arising from depression or depression related pathology, is the third leading cause of death for young people aged 15 to 24 and the fourth leading cause of death for persons between the aged of 10 to 14. Although the suicide rate among youth significantly decreased in the mid-1990s, suicide deaths in the United States remain high in the 15-24 age range, making it the one of the highest rates globally ("Suicide -- Fact Sheet," 2008). Only accidental deaths and homicide follow it. Some experts believe that many "accidental" deaths are actually suicides coded incorrect, perhaps to spare families already in turmoil. 27% of high school students have thought about suicide, 16% had a plan, and 8% made an attempt. Suicide affects teens of all races and social standing, although males have a higher success rate (78-90%) and typically use firearms, while females tend to try poison or sleeping pills. Over the past 15 years, for instance, the suicide rate among girls has scarcely changed, while the rate among boys has tripled. Also, the rate among non-white males, even thought it is still lower than the white male rate, has been rising most quickly of all ("Youth Suicide Fact Sheet," 2008). Suicide remains the second leading cause of death among whites after accidents and the third among blacks after homicides and accidents. Teen suicide is now considered a national mental health problem, and one of the fastest growing killers of youth in America, something that must be addressed consistently and actively.