There are many reasons for depression in youth. These are just a few:
Depression in Parents: A teenager with one or both depressed parents has a higher risk of depression.
Social Stressors: The youth may be trying to fit into a certain social group, struggling with learning disabilities, having a growing awareness of homosexuality, or coping with the feelings that being a girl bring.
Family Crisis: Divorce and remarriage often lead to teenage depression. Financial stress and an illness of a family member are also stressors. Even though adolescents may appear removed from their family's changing situation they actually remain very vulnerable to home-based problems and anxieties.
Family Dysfunction: In extreme cases, dysfunction refers to physical, verbal or sexual abuse. However, in the broader sense, it can relate to any disorderly pattern in the family structure (as when there is a family crisis, for example).
Parental High Expectations: Some parents place demands on their children that are almost impossible to meet. When parents convey that their love is based on achievements, the youth can have a number of emotional responses such as depression.
Significant Losses: Depression may be caused by the loss of a family member or the onset of a significant illness.
So how do parents know whether their daughter is just going through the usual ups and downs of adolescence instead of being depressed? Some of the warning signs include:
--Having difficulty falling asleep or wanting to sleep all day.
--Withdrawing from friends.
--Neglecting personal appearance or hygiene.
--Experiencing sadness, irritability or indifference for a long period of time.
--Having significant loss or gain in appetite.
--Performing poorly at school or getting into trouble.
--Showing feelings of guilt or worthlessness.
--Having unexplained aches and pains (even though nothing is physically wrong).
--Expressing thoughts of suicide.
Drug abuse, drinking and destructive behavior can also signal depression.
Depression can make a teenager feel alone, frightened and very unhappy. A depressed teenager probably has no idea what's wrong with her--just that she feels terrible and not at all like her former self. As she begins to feel worse, she may think she has less power: She may feel unable to take control of her own mood and her own life, because something mysterious and painful is overwheling her. Some youth try to make the pain of depression go away by drinking or taking drugs, which only makes the depression worse. Still others contemplate suicide.
What action should parents take to respond to their daughter's behavior change? The next and final article in this series will address some of the steps to take when an adolescent displays the warning signs of depression.
