Overcoming Teen Depression

Typical teenage behavior can confuse even the most knowledgeable parent. Behaviors such as the teens wanting more private time at home, wanting to hang out with friends more than their family, or they might stay up all night on Friday night playing video games, only to sleep until Saturday afternoon.

None of those behaviors alone are necessarily bad for your teen. But when does seemingly normal teen behavior become a serious problem? How can you tell if your child is suffering from teen depression?

Depression takes a mental, physical, and behavioral toll on a child. It can stem from trauma, grief, hormones, brain chemistry, or a genetic trait. If you are aware of the symptoms of teen depression, you can ask for support early. Early intervention could save your child’s mental and physical health, relationships, and even their life.

Emotional Symptoms

The most common symptom of teen depression is persistent sadness. The sadness attaches itself to the child, and even joyous events are marked by melancholy. This symptom is probably easier to spot and identify as depression. But sadness alone does not qualify someone as being clinically depressed. Your child’s pediatrician or a therapist would need to make a diagnosis.

Just like deep sadness or misery, irritability and anger can also exist in a teen struggling with mental health. Your child might suddenly rage about minor things, then break down crying. Their emotions seem to be all over the place. These mood swings are unpredictable and sometimes scary, especially to younger siblings. However, counselors can teach your child anger management skills that will last a lifetime.

A depressed teen may lose interest in things that they typically enjoy. They might stop hanging out with their friends, playing games, or reading. Instead, they may choose to stay in their room in isolation. Although privacy is important during the teen years, isolation is harmful for them. Children need to socialize to grow. Socializing teaches kids to interact with others, work as a team, and manage disagreements. Isolation takes away the support the child needs to move forward in their development.

Depressed teens can make disparaging comments about themselves or others, leaving them riddled with guilt or shame. They may replay events in their heads over and over or repeatedly share their “shameful” behavior with others, focusing on feelings of rejection or failure. Thus, self-blame and low self-esteem are common. To make matters worse, forgetfulness and memory difficulties can surface, causing problems at home and school.

The most troublesome emotional symptom for teens struggling with depression is excessive negative thoughts. Thousands and thousands of thoughts swirl in our minds daily, but when negative thoughts take root, they strengthen depression. Negative thoughts can also open the door to harmful and suicidal ideas.

Changes in Behavior

Teen depression not only has emotional symptoms but is also marked by behavioral changes. As with sadness, fatigue is a prevalent symptom. Exhaustion can keep your child from normal activities. Sometimes this fatigue can segue into irregular sleep schedules.

Some teens sleep too much (hypersomnia) with fatigue. Others, although tired, experience insomnia for the first time. Hypersomnia and insomnia can cause forgetfulness and slower body movements. For example, depressed teens tend to lose things more easily.

Along with sleep and memory disturbances, the appetite can change with depression. Some children will find it difficult to eat much, while others might turn to emotional eating to feel better. Both eating styles can create rapid weight loss or weight gain, and these swift physical changes promote unhealthy bodies.

A body without enough nutrients will have dry skin, hair loss, dehydration, abnormal heart rate, lower bone mass, and other physical issues. Overweight or obese teens face high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, rapid heart rate, digestive troubles, and a risk of stroke.

Depression can make daily tasks unbearable. Just moving from the bed to the shower can feel like an impossible challenge to someone with depression. Often, regular bathing routines will decrease as the effort becomes too much. This can lead to poor hygiene, dirty clothes and hair, bad breath, and tooth decay. These can escalate the feelings of low self-esteem.

Depression can also cause unexplained aches and pains. The child may complain of headaches and body aches, but there seems to be no discernible cause after a doctor’s checkup. The teen may even visit the school nurse with complaints.

These are actual physical symptoms. Your child does have a headache or body aches, but this is brought on as a side effect of significant depression. A pediatrician or psychologist will rule out all medical reasons before diagnosing depression. However, mental health disorders can underlie a serious medical condition.

Some troubled teens develop a devil-may-care attitude where they engage in risky behaviors. These behaviors can be criminal (theft), imbibing (alcohol or substance abuse), sexual (sex with many partners or without any protection), or violent (assault). Risky behaviors can be a sign of self-sabotage and should be addressed as soon as possible.

It may sound strange, but depression can cause both internal pain and numbness. The teen may feel nothing, and yet this “nothing” is excruciating. Regarding behavioral symptoms, self-harm and suicide attempts are the most dangerous.

Self-harm includes pinching, bruising, burning, branding, or cutting oneself to focus and control pain. This self-induced harm provides temporary relief from the pain and numbness the teen feels internally.

Beyond self-harm, a teen may attempt suicide. This is the most tragic of depression symptoms. Parents never want to see their child hurt. Knowing that there is a pain inside them so deep that the parent cannot stop is heartbreaking. Suicidal thoughts, threats, or attempts should never be ignored. If a teen or young adult makes an offhand comment in that direction, seek help immediately.

Treatment Options for Overcoming Teen Depression

Therapists have an arsenal of techniques to help teens overcome depression. These therapy techniques are personalized to the child’s specific needs. The most well-known are lifestyle changes, talk therapy, and cognitive behavioral therapy.

Lifestyle changes The first step is looking at what needs to be changed in their day-to-day life. This needs to be done in small steps, not all at once. It’s important to discover where the depression is stemming from. For example, if your teen’s responsibilities and pressures from school have created a cycle of anxiety and depression, it may be time to create strategies to help them manage their emotional reactions to the expectations of their schoolwork.

Additionally, healthy eating and exercising are essential in providing the body and mind with energy to get through the day. Spending some time outdoors in the fresh air can often change their perspective from sadness to hope. The therapist might suggest exercising outside and even practicing stretching and breathing techniques to help relieve stress and decrease anger.

Praying to God and asking Him for help during this time, reading the Bible, and worshiping God with music shift the focus from self (which depression draws from) to God. It also builds faith. Thanking God for at least three different blessings every day promotes joy despite depression.

Talk therapy Talk therapy can be done either in person or online. The therapist may suggest individual sessions, group therapy, or family therapy. With individual sessions, the teen spends time alone with the therapist to learn about their depression and also how to move forward managing it. Some people prefer this one-on-one approach as they feel comfortable and free to share information.

Group therapy is an excellent approach for teens, as they can hear from others dealing with depression as well. The sessions are confidential, but give the teens a sense that they are not alone in their pain.

A family session might be suggested to create awareness and understanding for the family members about depression and how to support the teens at home.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) CBT is a technique used to identify negative and harmful thoughts and replace them with positive and constructive ones. The idea is that thoughts lead to emotions, which in turn result in actions. If the thoughts are stopped and replaced at an early stage, then the feelings attached to those thoughts can change, thereby creating a situation that may halt any subsequent negative behavior.

Teen depression is a serious mental condition that requires help from licensed professional mental health specialists. If you believe your child has depression, seek help today. It is time for your child to rediscover that they have a future and hope. Contact our office to learn more.