Could Your Teenager Be Depressed?

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health recently found that teens who have experienced depression in the past year are more than twice as likely as their nondepressed peers to smoke or use drugs. Depressed teens also are much likelier to drink alcohol, according to this survey. Researchers also found that depression was more common in teenage girls than in teenage boys.

Some depressed teens misbehave at home or at school, say they are bored with everything, or abuse alcohol or other drugs.

Be on the lookout for these other signs of depression in your teenager:

• Sadness or crying
• Hopelessness
• Less interest in previously enjoyed activities
• Problems concentrating
• Social isolation
• Low self-esteem
• Intolerance for praise or rewards
• Increased irritability
• Discussion of suicide
• Problems with friendships
• Extreme sensitivity to rejection
• Frequent headaches, stomachaches, or other illnesses
• Decreased concern with personal appearance
• Poor school performance
• Changed eating or sleeping patterns
• Talk of—or attempts at—running away

If your child shows one or more of these signs, call her doctor. Effective treatments for teen depression include therapy and, if necessary, medications called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).

A government-funded study published recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that depressed teens responded best to a combination of an SSRI called fluoxetine and a type of therapy called cognitive- behavioral therapy (CBT). An adolescent undergoing CBT learns new ways of behaving and thinking—such as changing negative views of herself—that can lift depression’s hold.