Teenage Depression Facts

In today's competitive and fast-paced world, everyone has to step up to the pace. Stress has become an invariable part of modern life. Parents hardly get some time to spend with their kids. Parenting teenagers is quite a challenging task. In developed countries like the U.S., depression is one of the most common mental disorders among adolescents and teens.

Living under unnatural time pressures or living with financial problems, emotional insecurity, results in a number of psychological, social and physical ailments. Peer pressure, lack of interpersonal relations in families, abuse or neglect, parent's divorces, loss of closed person, break-up of a romantic relationship through teen dating, learning difficulties, teen obesity, chronic illnesses, are some of the main causes of teenage depression. The following teenage depression facts will help you know how understanding the signs of teenage depression and dealing with them is very crucial.

Facts

• Studies show that more than 2.5 percent of children and more than 8 percent of adolescents in the U.S. are victims of depression.
• Scientists and doctors are researching why depression is experienced comparatively quite earlier in life today than in past decades.
• According to teenage depression statistics, about one fifth of teens suffer from mild to severe depression before they reach adulthood.
• About 10-15% teenagers show psychotic depression symptoms at any one time; out of which nearly 5% suffer from major depressive disorder (MDD).
• Some facts about depression in teenagers are really shocking. According to 2007 statistics, suicide was the third leading cause of death for young children belonging to the age groups 10-14, 15-19 and 20-24.
• If young teenagers suffer from depression, then the depression is more likely to persist or recur in adulthood, and may lead to more severe illnesses.
• About 2% of teens suffer from dysthymia, a type of mild, long-lasting depression.

Before dealing with teenage depression, parents should understand whether their teenage kid is depressed or not. For this, they need to track his/her behavior.

Symptoms of Depression

• Sad mood and increased irritability or hostility, outbursts of shouting, crying, reckless behavior
• Losing interest in favorite activities, getting bored every now and then
• Loss of appetite, significant weight loss without any apparent reason
• Sleeping disorder, unable to sleep or oversleeping
• Always tired, lack of stamina
• Feeling guilty unnecessarily
• Recurrent thoughts of death or suicide, also fear of death
• Frequent headaches, muscle aches, stomach pain or tiredness
• Difficulty maintaining relationships, lack of communication and interest
• Frequent absences from school or efforts to run away from home
• Alcohol or drug abuse
• Social isolation, extreme reaction to rejection or failure
• Learning difficulties, lack of concentration, difficulty focusing on and achieving targets, poor performance in school

The symptoms may vary from child to child, depending upon the personality of the child, the company he/she keeps, causes of depression and family history and background. If parents notice any such depression symptoms in their kids, they should immediately consult a psychotherapist. Depression medications like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), can prove to be beneficial to teens with MDD. Depression test for teenagers helps determine the severity of depression and proper treatment for depression. Along with proper medications, psychotherapy helps get rid of depression fast.

Teenage depression facts inform us that depression in teenage often leads to other mental disorders and physical illnesses, for example, anxiety, disruptive behavior, substance abuse disorders and diabetes, gout, etc. Understanding signs of teenage depression can help lower the risk of suicidal behavior in children and adolescents.