The National Survey on Drug Use and Healthrecently found that teens who have experienceddepression in the past year are morethan twice as likely as their nondepressedpeers to smoke or use drugs. Depressed teensalso are much likelier to drink alcohol, accordingto this survey. Researchers also found thatdepression was more common in teenagegirls than in teenage boys.
Some depressed teens misbehave at homeor at school, say they are bored with everything,or abuse alcohol or other drugs.
Be on the lookout for these other signs ofdepression 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, orother 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 thesesigns, call her doctor. Effective treatments forteen depression include therapy and, if necessary,medications called selective serotoninreuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
A government-funded study publishedrecently in the Journal of the American MedicalAssociation found that depressed teens respondedbest to a combination of an SSRI calledfluoxetine and a type of therapy called cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). An adolescentundergoing CBT learns new ways of behavingand thinking—such as changing negative viewsof herself—that can lift depression’s hold.