Even the medications that are designed to help them get through the depression can sometimes make things worse, as various medications for depression and anxiety carry a risk of suicide when people are just starting or just getting off of the medication.
Reviewing the literature about how to deal with depression in adolescents is very important, as treatment is needed in many cases. The first important concern for treatment is the psychodynamic approaches that are used. Psychodynamic approaches, or psychosocial approaches, generally translate in lay terms to counseling or therapy of some kind. This can be in a group or individually, depending on which way the therapist feels will be more effective, and the recent evidence into this issue shows that adolescents that are dealing with depression may find that this kind of intervention is often very effective in alleviating their depression (Lewinsohn & Clarke, 1999; Clarke, Rohde, Lewinsohn, Hops, & Seeley, 1999). One of the main reasons that a treatment approach is so important for these people is that around 15% of adolescents are viewed as being clinically depressed at some time in their teenage years (Montgomery, Beekman, & Sadavoy, 2000).
One study that was conducted by NIMH in 1997 indicated that adolescents that suffered from depression and were treated by therapists had a 65% remission rate and responded to treatment much more rapidly than adolescents that were treated with support and concern from their families only, instead of professional intervention (Brent, Holder, Kolko, Birmaher, Baugher, Roth, Iyengar, & Johnson, 1997).
This does not mean, however, that family therapy or intervention in the life of a troubled individual has no merit. Even those that did not have one-on-one counseling or therapy found that there was improvement when they were involved in a program that dealt with family therapy and coping skills. Not only did depressive symptoms show a decrease, but there was also significant improvement in problem-solving skills, interacting with family and friends, and overall social functioning in general (Mufson, Weissman, Moreau, & Garfinkle, 1999).
Adolescents clearly need support and help when they are depressed, just as individuals of any age group do. However, finding that help and support can be very difficult, because adolescents often do not know how to go about asking for help, or who to turn to. Often, they are not even aware that they are depressed. Instead, they just think that everyone feels this way, or that it 'will not happen to them.' Parents, siblings, friends, other family members, and teachers can compound the problem if they look the other way and insist that everything is fine when it is really not.
Sometimes, when an adolescent commits suicide, the parents insist that they never knew that their child was depressed, or that they never saw any signs that there was a problem. Usually, though, there are signs, and others either ignore these signs or they do not recognize them for what they are and therefore do not do anything about them. People obviously want to think that everything is all right. No one likes to acknowledge that they or someone they love has a problem. Despite this, though, the recognizing of and admitting to a problem with depression can save lives.
No parent should have to go through the pain of burying their child. When parents know that there is something that they could have done but they did nothing, that pain is magnified and intensified. An adolescent suicide can not only take the life of the young person but can ruin or severely damage the lives of the family members and friends, as well. This destruction damages society in that economic and social issues and affected, and people's lives are disrupted while they struggle to cope with the loss of a loved one.
Losing someone that was loved, especially if the loss is sudden or...
The specific way that individual behavior interacts with the group engenders mutually supportive behaviors. For example, one of the central theoretical theses comes from the early 1950s and is called the Social Learning Theory. This has a number of permutations, but suggests that the effect of behavior has a specific impact on the motivation of people who engage in that specific type of behavior. For instance, most of us
(1999) which are: 1) Those with serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder with major depression and who use alcohol and drugs to self-mediate to cope with the symptoms; and 2) Those with borderline personality and anti-social personality disorders including anxiety disorder that is complicated by use of alcohol and illicit drugs. (Mather et al. 1999) Presenting further difficulty is the establishment of problems with alcohol and illicit drug use
At one point or another in our lives, we are all beginners. We begin college, a first job, a first love affair, and perhaps a first dissertation project. We bring a great deal to these new situations, including our temperament, previous education, and family situations. Yet, as adults, we also learn. In romantic relationships, couples report having to learn how to interact successfully with their partners. College students routinely report
Figure 1 portrays three of the scenes 20/20 presented March 15, 2010. Figure 1: Heather, Rachel, and Unnamed Girl in 20/20 Program (adapted from Stossel, 2010). Statement of the Problem For any individual, the death of a family member, friend, parent or sibling may often be overwhelming. For adolescents, the death of person close to them may prove much more traumatic as it can disrupt adolescent development. Diana Mahoney (2008), with the
Likewise, anxiety and depression represent the most prevalent problems facing young adults attending college, with these two conditions being ranked first and third, respectively, among college students seeking counseling services (Mccarthy, Fouladi, Juncker & Matheny, 2006). According to Armstrong and her associates (2003), adolescence and young adulthood is a period in life when most people engage in explorative behaviors and test their limits in ways that may contribute to their
They show that mood swings in depressed children alternate with days of a pervasive down mood. These moods involve sadness, loneliness, unhappiness, hypersensitivity, overreactivity, and negative attitudes. All of this is combined with irritability caused by sadness, self-deprecation ("I am worthless, stupid, and ugly"), feelings of being persecuted by others, an aggressive orientation toward authority, argumentativeness, and suicidal thoughts. Present as well is the trend of self-isolation or withdrawal
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now