Is a Teen Depressed, or Just Moody?

"Neither could it be accounted for by looking at household composition (two parents versus one parent versus no parents)."

God forbid we blame the single moms, or anyone for that matter.

I was born with a genetic predisposition to depression. Combine that with physical punishment as a child which released my depression by the age of 13 that was not taken seriously by my mother when I told her sometimes I just felt really sad and then I proceeded to mask with drugs. It has taken me a few bouts of severe clinical depression with suicidal ideation and impulses to get a handle on the situation now that I'm in my early 50s. Antidepressants, talk therapy, exercise, acknowledging this is an inherited condition. I am keeping a sharp eye out for my daughter and hope that the lack of being physically hit and demeaned will not unlock any depressive genes that may be locked into her subconscious waiting for a trigger.

Good article. I would like to see where nutrition plays in this. Why? Teens tend to over indulge in comfort foods high in sugar and carbohydrates... recent studies have shown that the sugar is as addictive as a drug. Food for thought.

Some theorize aggression is depression turned outward

https://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/awake-no1-2017-february/
This article has helped me with my three teenagers , two girls and a boy.
We have to be there as parents and listen when they want to talk. It makes a huge difference. It can literally be life or death.

It has helped my son and I enormously to let go of the high expectation/pressure of looking for a prestigious college, for that matter, even looking at colleges in general. He is brilliant, according to standardized test, but has ADHD and fights anxiety. He is not academically motivated despite a 3.28 GPA. Perhaps a "Gap Year" is our solution. Probably so.

This will make a good topic for a well researched article some day.

In my experience the overwhelming majority of mental health issues suffered by young people are caused, or at the very least exacerbated, by their parents.

The only way to get treatment to most young people is to provide for free through their schools. Anything less basically means no treatment at all.

The ability to communicate with our teens by asking the right questions, depends in part on supporting their social system. Teens know when parents are trying to find out what's going on with them, and even when suffering, often don't want to share. So we need to also be able to ask the right questions to their friends. That requires developing a level of trust by making consistent efforts to support all of them. So it's not just raising our own kids, but supporting their friends, so they in turn support our kids. Their lives are a system of interactions, and if we support a healthy system, we support our kids health.

I cannot speak to the reasons teens with loving, kind parents become depressed to the point of suicide. They have as many disputes with their parents as any teen, so love and support--or their lack--are neither a cause nor a solution.

Adolescent depression and suicide are very real. They happen in the kids you least expect. Don't read their journals or blogs. Talk to the child in private frequently. Make special time for each child. If you really know your kid, you'll see beyond normal sturm und drang. Get professional Adolescent depression and suicide are very real. They happen in the kids you least expect. Don't read their journals or blogs. Talk to the child in private frequently.. Make special time, but you must be there.

I grew up poor, with a single alcoholic parent. I knew by the time I was two (probably before) that I wasn't wanted or loved except by one of my grandmothers. I remember hating myself by the time I was five, but I was simply accepting the descriptions given at home: I was ugly, stupid, sneaky, so evil that no descent person would spend time with me, clumsy, etc.

In high school, I found a small group that had grown up and survived that same hell in their parents' houses. Emotionally, we were years older than our classmates. We'd learned to live without an emotional or financial safety net. While teens' moods are all over the place, we didn't suffer from true depression. We didn't discuss the hell we found with our parents because it couldn't hurt us.

Evaluation by psychiatrists for children at Prominent Ivy University medical center is $650 for the first session alone. No insurance accepted.

She looks the portrait of sulks and moodiness, and it is a portrait by Leonardo da Vinci of Ginevra Benci, engaged to be married at 16 back in the 15th century. Resting on a desk, it caught the attention of a visitor who poked his finger at this copy and laughed. There was no need to say anything, but this young girl, her state-of-mind captured by this great artist, was depressed.

Growing-up in Europe in the 60s, as an adolescent, depression may have been less recognized at the time, based on my own observations and personal experience? Here's a fictitious environmental scenario for instance:

You are at boarding school, an outsider. Your parents are divorced and live in different countries. There is no alimony. You are not thinking of the future, but hoping that the fees for education will be paid. You feel like a burden to your parents, and you have no assets, a grubby wardrobe, no confidence, etc. It gets worse.

This is a classic sad-mop story. Then tragedy strikes and you are alone holding the hand of an adult. But your mind is already made up as to economic and social views, and you are planning to never depend on anybody.

Now. Whenever I see a teen looking downcast, it is rare that a case of the sulks comes to mind. This passage in life is also known as 'The Rebellious Years' and with some experience and maturity, an adult may be able to determine whether a teen is spoiled and manipulative, or needs guidance. Possibly all should be checked.

I'm a parent of a four year old who has been difficult all her short life-- raging tantrums of more than an hour, moodiness in the mornings, arbitrary requests that make no sense and send her into an obsessive spiral of thouhhts and actions, and desire to have things done her way all the time. We've literally felt held hostage. But at school and in social situations she has near perfect behavior. It has baffled us and made us seek help. A psychologist has shocked us with the news that she has depressive symptoms which manifest themselves differently in small children! I didn't know this existed. I don't want to be one of those parents who resent their kids for being so difficult and manipulative. The hope is that by identifying this early on we can provide the love and support she desperately needs and help her blossom into someone who can control her emotions. This prism is helping us cope with her-- that it's not her fault. Depression is also passed in the family and lurking there without being diagnosed. Imagine all this in a four year old, and now imagine this girl as a fourteen year old, ten years later, who feels unworthy of her parents love. This is my greatest fear, and I commend your readers for sharing their stories.

It helps the most to limit our children's internet usage and increase their other activities.

Too much screen time independently causes depression. There is also a contagion factor with the internet--they are being encouraged to indentify normal feelings of sadness as a chronic illness and self-diagnose with depression or other mental illnesses. Sort of a tween/teen drama thing in part.

Some of these kids are genuinely depressed. Many are at risk. A problem I find is that if your kid says they are depressed, then they are automatically classified as depressed by anyone they say this to. However, when I take my kid off screens for enough time, my kid goes back to being a happy kid.

My kid's unhappiness and general sense of grievance about the world is greatly increased by the internet and various websites that romanticize/distort certain issues.

I still send my kid to a therapist. We err on the side of caution. I don't think the therapist helps. Spending time outdoors, with family, with supportive friends, and on useful and enjoyable activies (including art, music, and anything that makes kids laugh--including cartoons) has remarkably beneficial effects.

Our culture backs kids and parents into a corner by labeling certain human struggles as medical issues while also encouraging or enabling a way of life that simply isn't good for us. I'm not knocking treatment. I'm only saying for some kids it may not be the main solution. Being a kid can be hard in many ways.

I've been a school counselor and clinical counselor for my entire adult life and have taken seriously the suicidal expressions of thousands of teens. I preface my comments with that , because my comments may seem simplistic but they're based on experience. I believe that a lot of the teen anxiety and depression is the result of saturation with electronics. The growth of video games, social media and every kid having access to the web through their phones, leads to isolation, feelings of worthlessness and a lack of community accomplishment, like the old fashioned kind you get from participating in a group in which your morals are developed and tested in real, not virtual life. I see parents jumping to psychiatrize their kids' problem behavior by blaming it on anxiety , depression , or the ubiquitous ADHD. Instead of making their kids responsible for their actions, they blame it on a "disorder" and then expect schools to follow suit. How about this: telling kids they're acting badly and you expect them to shape up. Telling them that the reason they got a bad grade is because they didn't do the work, not because they have some disorder they have no control over. Taking their electronics away permanently and having the whole family figure out how to talk to each other. Expect them to accomplish things, do chores, and give of themselves to others. May lead to more satisfaction, less depression and anxiety.

I watch with horror at the way children are often raised these days. They are not being allowed to go through the confidence building experiences that were taken for granted in my day: walking to school, entering the school alone and placing themselves at their desk, riding a bicycle, chores, values training (church, synagog, temple etc) and going to the playground without adult supervision. The level of control I see many parents exercising over their children will not allow them to grow to maturity.
No surprise that they end up being an immature depressed anxious lot.

Identifying depression - or any other mental illness for that matter -- is only the very tip of the iceberg when it comes to dealing with adolescents and, especially, with older teens.

When a child reaches eighteen years old, a parent faces additional adversity in attempting to help with mental health challenges -- At 18, a "child" is legally an adult, and absent a court order, his/her mental health is no longer a parent's legal concern. This does not mean parents cease to care and worry about a kid when s/he becomes an adult, but it does mean that intervening in children's lives will probably end if there has been the usual parent-child combat over issues of counseling, medication, mood, etc. So unless the lines of communication have been carefully cultivated in a loving, respectful, and trusting way throughout the teen years prior to the "magical" 18th birthday, this can be a very hard adjustment. When your child suffers from depression (or other mental health issues) a loving, respectful, and trusting relationship can be hard to achieve ad maintain, but it is worth every effort.

We do have to keep asking the right questions, over and over and over again. Talk to your kids. Listen to your kids. It's worth every word.

I suffered severe and persistent depression from age 12 until my mid 20's. My high school years were excruciating, and my parents shrugged off my state and behavior as an unwelcome teenage phase. What I would have given for someone to take note of my suffering, and how I wish I had had the language or maturity to reach out for help. I didn't have a name for it, just a bottomless well of darkness that I was told was merely an unsavory phase I would grow out of. It wasn't until after a suicide attempt at 22 that I learned I had an illness and that treatment was available. Today I live with great joy and gratitude in my heart, but I still weep for the little girl I was.

This article suggests that the rise in teen suicide and depression among our youth is rising! What should we do? Is listening enough? Is not limiting their cell phone use and getting them into therapy the answer? Perhaps these are only part of the solutions! What other solutions can we think of? Have you tried mind body practices? Creative expressions of emotions through journaling or painting? Long deep breathing while holding a CALM DOWN Jar? Getting off the computers and out in the fresh air and sunshine? Let's keep this conversation moving. Our kids lives depend on it! www.benspeaks.org

After my family was exposed to a serious dose of toxins, which triggered profound behavioral changes, including depression, I got a Masters in forensic psychology in an attempt to help my two teen-aged daughters. A few things I learned: One was the importance of testing to see if your child can metabolize prescribed medications. Many medications, including SSRI's, cannot be metabolized because a very sizable percentage of individuals do not have the correct enzymes to break down some drugs. Food allergies can also trigger severe depression. We need to open our minds as to what we're looking at when we consider causes of depression. Why do teenagers, particularly females, have greater rates of depression than in the past? Does this correspond with why approx. 80% of people with autoimmune disease are female - and that rates of these diseases are also increasing? At any rate, kids today are living in a very different kind of chemical soup than older generations experienced, and young brains - which are relatively delicate - need our protection and concern.

If depression is rising in children, we need to look at child-rearing practices, particularly from birth to age 5. These are critical years for children to learn how to manage their emotions, and how form bonds with trusted others.

Fifty percent of all mental health conditions emerge by age 14. There is often a biological predisposition that runs in families, and the confluence of major developmental processes during this period exhaust adolescents, and require maximum use of neurotransmitters to support development. If there is a predisposition for less-than-optimal neurotransmitter levels, or a lack of efficacy in how the brain utilizes neurotransmitters at a time when the brain needs them the most, this often sets off the chain of events that emerge as a mental health crisis.
Further, the serious lack of readily available skilled providers who take insurance compounds and lengthens the crisis, making it that much more difficult for effective treatment when it does become available. Additionally, the lack of empathy and education by some families and larger society is another layer of trauma that truly posits adolescent mental health as a major human rights and health crisis that demands prioritization, resources and education.
There are a plethora of TV ads, providers and insurance for male ED, but none for a life-threatening and growing problem for vulnerable youth.
This is a pervasive problem that many families are silently and very painfully overwhelmed by. Those who comment that this crisis is overblown cannot possibly have accurate information or relevant experience to understand the scope and severity of the problem.

We had a family tragedy when my daughters were ages 10 and 5--my parents were hit and killed by a drunken driver. That year I made a serious mistake: I refused to allow my older daughter to start taking Prozac for the serious anxiety she developed. I didn't want her to think you could take a pill for grief.

At 14, she developed anorexia. She almost died that year. Finding the right team of doctors and therapists to help her was really hard, and we live in a major metropolitan area with a university medical center, where we could choose among eating disorders specialists. There was a period of six months when our lives mainly involved going from one treatment appointment to another. Over the next 3 years, there was steady improvement. She regained her health and graduated from high school and college on time. She will always struggle, but each year, her life gets better. When my younger daughter suffered a severe anxiety attack at 14, I was better prepared and found it easier to find a treatment team. My older daughter views her need for psychiatric treatment and meds as a failing. My younger daughter views them as a form of support she needs because of a biological predisposition to depression and anxiety.

My (admittedly unscientific) theory is that the hormonal thunderstorms of adolescence hit some people much harder than others. I hope parents can learn from my experience and make sure their children get the resources they need to cope.

Even now that I am in my thirties, my father still likes to poke fun at my "teenage angst". This is unfortunate, because he referring to my full blown, decade-long eating disorder. This included cutting myself, which my parents knew about. They didn't have the skills with how best to deal with depression and anxiety in their child; they still do not. It wasn't until I got to college, with its mental health services, that I was diagnosed and treated. College mental health services saved my life. But to my father, my "issues" were of garden variety moodiness, not the life-threatening condition that it was. We need to find a way to give parents the emotional skill set for listening, watching, and caring for their teenagers.

When you report that the "risk of dying by suicide was as high as the risk of dying in a traffic accident" for children aged 10 to 14, you neglect to mention that the only reason for this is that the rates of death due to traffic accidents for this age group has declined exceedingly dramatically. The rates of suicide have not risen. Moreover, the number of children committing suicide is so low, that, while each is a tragedy--particularly for parents and loved ones--it is barely a blip on the radar screen in terms of mortality. Finally, children of this age rarely die of any cause (at least in developed nations not torn by war), so claims such as "suicide is now the second leading cause of death among children" refers to very, very few deaths. Presenting "stand-alone statistics"--numbers without figures to compare them to--is a meaningless and often misleading practice.

This article explores teenage depression but makes short shrift of how prevalent eating disorders and body image dissatisfaction can be among teens. As part of a comprehensive evaluation, teens should be asked if they binge, diet, excessively exercise, hate their bodies, use diuretics or laxatives. Depression + eating disorders go hand in hand.
The New York Center for Eating Disorders
www.EmotionalEating.Org

Listening, indeed!

We've forgotten silence, a great gift to all.

A 14 year old whose grades dropped considerably, who no longer plays the sports he always loved as a child, who never sees friends outside of school, who is so isolated his family can't go out to eat, concerned his parents greatly. They took him to two therapists. One wanted to do behavior modifications, like putting stickers on a chart when he communicated about school, or helped with the dishes. The chart disqualified therapist #1 and the boy became emotionally hostile to therapy. The second therapist thought the behavior was all in the range of normal. When the parents expressed concern about the temper and the isolation, the therapist said to call the police if any aggression erupted. he pediatrician has no idea, the therapists have no skill, and the parents have no help. They hope to celebrate their child's graduation from high school.

Teens are moody by nature but there is a real difference between the blues and serious depression. My kids all had the blues from time to time but never did they tip over into a major depression. There is a magnitude of difference between the two. Blues is just that, feeling morose, lethargic and generally the feeling or mood passes. Depression is much deeper, longer and can make teens unrecognizable. If you see the latter, get them to a doctor or psychologist. Over medication is a concern but an ethical doctor won't treat unnecessarily. A psychologist can't prescribe medication so maybe that's the starting point. It's serious stuff and teens are notoriously impulsive, so if you suspect depression, please act on it.

When I was a teenager, I sometimes felt sad for no reason I could figure out and felt very frustrated. One day, my dad noticed and said that it looked like I had a case of the blues. I questioned him and he said that sometimes there are days that we can be sad for no reason, just like sometimes a simple thing brings joy. That simple answer freed me from feeling as if I was alone and different, and I told this story to my son when he came to me feeling moody and not understanding why. Sometimes we all need permission just to feel sad for a little while without examination. It often passes and too much attention to it can exacerbate the situation. Especially among those of us who are champion introspectors.

Unfortunately, some comments here are not based on scientific findings. To claim that young people 'suffer from over-diagnosis and over-medication' is irresponsible. I suggest these naysayers search the internet for evidence of untreated depression in young people from sources such as the NIMH, the Four-Community MECA study, and the ECA studies. Evidence supports the prevalence of untreated depressive disorders in youth. Furthermore, among young people who exhibited depressive symptoms, there are higher risks for suicide and for depressive disorders in adulthood, compared to those who did exhibit such symptoms during youth.

This is a resubmission. The first one has a mistake.
NM Gargon
New York, NY Pending Approval Unfortunately, some comments here are not based on scientific findings. To claim that young people 'suffer from over-diagnosis and over-medication' is irresponsible. I suggest these naysayers search the internet for evidence of untreated depression in young people from sources such as the NIMH, the Four-Community MECA study, and the ECA studies. Evidence supports the prevalence of untreated depressive disorders in youth. Furthermore, among young people who exhibited depressive symptoms, there are higher risks for suicide and for depressive disorders in adulthood, compared to those who did NOT exhibit such symptoms during youth.

Psychotic illness begins in adolescence and early adulthood. Depression and substance abuse aren't the only psychiatric problems parents need to be educated about. Psychosis---needs to be in the discussion!

Commenters here have identified many of the right concerns; long wait times to see a therapist, over eagerness by the medical profession to lean on drug from an early age. However, Concerned Citizen has a solid point that can be heeded much earlier than the teen years- parental involvement. The enormous increase in checked- out caregivers, pushing infants and toddlers in strollers while focused on their phones. Social media is the pacifier of children from middle childhood into teen years. Screen time is creating an isolation chamber with all the wrong messages for a developing mind, yet the increase is exponential. Now, we are witnessing the exponential problems that come from inattention and lack of attachment.

Parents have to be there to listen, with the understanding that what teenagers tell their parents is rarely the whole of what they want to say and that their parents may not really be the ones teenagers want to tell it to. If they’re angry at someone, they become depressed, because they cannot or will not tell the person, and so take it out on others.

Over-diagnosis and over-medication are the real problems, and if you take your teen to a psychiatrist, the odds are they will come out of there with a prescription for brain-altering drugs that may well create a lifelong dependence. Read the book Anatomy of an Epidemic and you will see what I mean.

We should all be alarmed -- and outraged --- at the rush to medicate young brains despite a dearth of evidence and data, and despite indications that the drugs often make things worse and turn temporary problems into chronic ones. Of course some people genuinely have disorders and should have meds. But not nearly the number who are actually getting them. Stop experimenting on teenage brains and realize that emotional pain is usually normal and really does usually pass.

How many families can afford to pay for therapy? And how many insurance companies have the right providers for teens on their rosters? It's not easy to get any sort of mental health care in America unless you can pay out of pocket for it because the insurance companies don't like paying for it and the coverage is not equal.

I find it very troubling that we appear to be having more and more mental health issues with young people. Universities have had to expand their mental health services to a level previously not seen. High school students on on psychiatric drugs. What on earth is going on today?

Have our children not learned how to cope with stress and disappointment? Are they all drama queens? Is this attention seeking from parents who are often very busy and disengaged?

Something VERY wrong is going on.

This does appear to be an epidemic. My non-scientific observation is that at least half of my teenagers' close friends are clinically depressed. Some of them are being treated for it, and others are afraid to tell their parents about it for various reasons and are unable to get treatment on their own.
It is a large cross-section of teens too, from high school students to college students to kids in the workforce. Both males and females. I would say that cyberbullying is an unlikely culprit here. Substance abuse may be present in a couple of cases, but not the others. This issue has been bothering me for a while, so many great kids struggling with depression.
One good thing is that teenagers nowadays are very familiar with what depression is. They talk about it and support their friends going through tough times, it is a part of life for many. However, not that many of them communicate to their parents about it.

It would be interesting to see the correlation between economic problems and teenage moods- the basis of this would be that teens are looking towards their futures and getting messages, either positive or negative, and feel hopeful or depressed. It makes sense to assume that lower economic outlooks would cause teens to become depressed as they are not looking forward to a life a more problems that they cannot solve without tremendous effort- effort they shouldn't really be expected to have to do.

The nearest mental health clinic to me has a waiting list of six months and doesn't take insurance at all. Treatment starts, emphasis on starts, at 150$ for each one hour session.

What are people like me supposed to tell kids when there's no accessible help for them even when we know something is wrong? "You can have a one hour counciling session or the family can have a weeks worth of food?"