Essay On Adolescent Depressive Disorder

Depression is defined as a mental illness in which a person is experiencing deep sadness and loneliness. It is known as one of the most common mental illnesses and it affects all kinds of people, regardless of sex, age and religion. Many people are not aware that depression is not only diagnosed in adults, but in children and adolescents as well. Therefore, there is a debate about whether children suffering from depression should be allowed to take antidepressants. Antidepressant drugs should be prescribed for children suffering from depression under the conditions of doctors limiting the medication, including therapy and having the parents informed/educated.

In an attempt to better understand depression in today’s youth, I have chosen to explore the depths of Major Depressive Disorder and how it affects the young people in our society. Depression amongst school age children and adolescents are the primary focus. The prevalence, adversities, and treatment of the depression are discussed as well. After exploring these few facets of the disorder, I will talk briefly about the Ecological Model developed by Urie Bronfenbrenner and Morris in 1998 that is used by counselors to help evaluate and assess the children who are referred by teachers or medical

In healthcare set up if a teenager with depression is prescribed an antidepressant the benefits and possible risks and side effects, instructions for the dose and timing, potential interactions with other prescriptions or non-prescriptions medication and alternatives to medication for example continued therapy. These medications for depression in teenagers are recommended but due to the numerous side effects associated with these drugs which is not safe for the teenagers and the availability of effective alternatives (SSRIs), TCA are less

Depression can be cause if child feels rejected by peers or have problems with sexual identity.

Depression in children stem from a variety of factors relating to health, history, life events, genetic vulnerabilities, family history, and biochemical imbalances. Every individual shows different symptoms when suffering from depression; however, these symptoms interfere with the child’s daily living at school and home. Psychotherapy and medication are the most common treatments for children with depression (Depression in

Kovacs, M. (2003). Children 's Depression Inventory: Technical manual update. North Tonawanda, NY: Multi-Health Systems.

In this sample, scale internal consistency was high (Cronbach α = .89). The Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI) (Kovacs, 1992), which is a widely used measure with good test-retest reliability and validity in clinical and community-based samples, was used to measure depressive symptoms among children. In this sample, scale reliability was high (Cronbach α = .82). Moreover, measures were pretested with a similar population for the higher reliability and validity.

The typical duration of a major depressive episode for clinically referred children and adolescents is 8 to 13 months. Approximately 90% of these patients’ major depressive episodes remit by 2 years, but up to 10% persist.Within 5 years of MDD onset, up to 70% of children and adolescents will experience a recurrence,a rate comparable to adults. Anxiety

Thesis Statement: What are the relationships between depression and substance use, specifically alcohol, amongst adolescents?

There are about 350 million people in the world that have depression. Teenagers get depression and most of the time it carries on into their adult lives. In 2012 16 million adults have had at least one depressive episode. That is about 6.9 percent of the total population. Most of these adults had depression when they were teens. Teenage depression is one of the most common forms of depression. Having depression can result in you not really doing anything in you adult life, because it can effect you just as much as it did in your teenage

Depression is the most widespread mental illness in today’s society. Studies have found that, 1 out of 8 teens are affected with this disease. It also predominantly affects young ladies than it does males. (www.kidshealth.org). Teens are at a position in their lives when they must face significant transition and peer pressures. They are trying to identify with themselves and trying to figure out where there puzzle piece fits in society, all of which can show the way to behavioral and emotional changes. This is also a stage when families suffer from poor communication: teenagers often tend to keep their feelings and concerns to themselves away from their parents and other authority figures. Therefore, identifying depression in teenagers

Until recently depression in children and adolescents had not received a great deal of attention. Increasing interest can probably be traced to a number of influences.

The mental health of adolescents is fairly considered to be one of the major prerequisites of the country 's sustainable development in economics, culture, and social life. Subsequently, the easy and nondiscriminatory access to the psychological treatment appears to be a matter of top priority for the federal government. Nevertheless, the recent statistical data indicates the substantial problems in terms of providing the adolescents with the necessary medical support. In accordance with the US Department of Health & Human Services, in 2014, less than 50% of the country 's adolescent population were provided with a required treatment (US Department of Health & Human Services). Moreover, the data on the minorities ' access to the mental health treatment demonstrates that, for instance, African-Americans are twice as likely as whites to be prescribed a treatment from schizophrenia (American Psychological Association). Undoubtedly, such a trend may be primarily explained by the insufficient efforts of both federal and local health care institutions in terms of providing the minorities ' representatives with the necessary psychological treatment. Consequently, in order to understand comprehensively the problem of the adolescent mental health in the US, it is necessary to define the issue-related objective and subjective concerns as well as to analyze the peculiarities of a potential corrective to the

People used to believe that children had no reason to be depressed it wasn’t till a few years ago: “No one thought that children could suffer from real depression; there wasn’t even an official diagnosis for childhood depression until 1980” (Fassler 4). But really who would have thought that such a thing could be possible. Sadly today we know that it’s a real disease and it affects more adolescents than we think: “ The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that as many as 2.5 percent of all American youngsters under the age of eighteen or over 1.5 million children and adolescents are seriously depressed” (Fassler 2).

Today’s teenagers are faced with the ever changing world around them and the biological changes of their bodies. Many teens are also faced with depression. Approximately half of teenagers with untreated depression may attempt suicide, which remains the third leading cause of death in this age group. (Bostic). This depression affects their school, family lives, and robs them of their self image. Depression affects many teens and often goes by unnoticed and untreated.