Being a teenager may be challenging, and supporting teenagers can often be even more difficult.
While occasional episodes of melancholy, irritability, or moodiness are common, teens who feel hopeless may be depressed. Reject your adolescent’s distress as being just moodiness. Even in youth, depression is common; one in five teenagers suffers from depression.
What Is Teenagers Depression?
Although there are several forms of depression, they are all categorised as mood disorders. Your child’s symptoms must be seen for two weeks in order to receive a diagnosis of depression. The majority of depressive illnesses have an impact on your child’s life, thoughts, and motivation to carry out everyday tasks like eating, sleeping, and doing their schoolwork.
You might be curious in the reasons of teen depression as a parent. While chemical imbalances in the brain are the primary cause of many depressive disorders, certain conditions or settings can also play a role in some cases. In addition, a teen’s sadness may be influenced by their genes, hormones, or experiences in life.
Your adolescent may be experiencing one of the following common depressive disorders:
- Major depression:
A frequent depressive condition called major depression is characterised by symptoms that last for at least two weeks and interfere with day-to-day functioning. - Manic depression:
Teens with bipolar illness, also known as manic depression, are more likely to suffer manic periods, or enhanced moods and increased activity, in addition to depressive episodes characterised by the typical symptoms of hopelessness and apathy. - Perinatal depression:
Postpartum depression can develop during or after pregnancy. Although older parents are more likely to encounter this kind of sadness, teenage parents can still go through it. - Persistent depression:
This type of depression often lasts for a minimum of two years, but frequently considerably longer. Compared to other depressive disorders, symptoms are typically milder. - Seasonal Depression:
Seasonal depression is a condition that arises and disappears with the changing of the seasons, usually in the autumn and winter.
Symptoms of Teen Depression
What causes teenage depression? When are they going to be? You can deal with your adolescent more skilfully if you comprehend their sadness.
Certain parents are unclear about the differences between melancholy and depression. What distinguishes the two from one another? Teenage depression typically manifests as a persistently depressed or melancholy state.
Symptoms of teen depression might also manifest as:
a. A pessimistic perspective
b. Low vigour
c. Disinterest in activities they used to enjoy
d. Absence of enthusiasm and effort
e. Modifications to sleep habits
f. Alterations in eating patterns
g. Underwhelming performance at job or school Withdrawing from friends and family.
h. Taking up dangerous or damaging activities
g. Suicidal ideation, or suicidal ideas. Treatment for Teen Depression
Your adolescent can participate in a number of treatments when it comes to treating teen depression, such as:
Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
Interpersonal therapy (IPT)
Attachment-based family therapy (ABFT)
The recommended course of therapy for your adolescent will be determined by their individual symptoms and diagnosis of depression. The majority of therapy are talk-based and target different aspects of depression. When treating your teen, therapists may combine one, two, or even more of these methods.
After the initial interview and evaluation, your teen’s therapist will create a customised treatment plan for your child. Additionally, your teen’s depression symptoms may be treated with medication.