Being a teenager is hard. They’ve got pressure on all sides: school, parents, friends, jobs, crushes, and extracurricular activities. Their bodies are changing while they’re learning independence and making future plans.
It’s normal for them to be secretive and occasionally lash out. But you should know the signs of something more serious than adolescent moodiness. While it can be hard to spot depression in your child, learning the symptoms and keeping the conversation open between you can go a long way to helping them get better.
What is Depression?
Depression is not just feeling sad for a while. It affects behavior, thought processes, and the ability to function in daily life. If depression goes untreated, it can increase in severity and may lead to suicide. Suffering from depression is not a moral failing or a sign of laziness. It’s not something that can be willed away or powered through. It’s a serious mental health issue that should be addressed with therapy and possibly pharmacological intervention.
While depression can be brought on by childhood trauma or life events such as a death in the family or chronic illness, it doesn’t always have an obvious cause. For some, it’s due to a variety of issues, including chemical imbalances.
Teens are at a particularly high risk of depression due to bullying, social rejection, and peer pressure. They’ve also lost significant parts of their childhood and pre-teen years to the pandemic, which can further influence depressive episodes.
Signs of Adolescent Depression
Watch out for these symptoms of depression in your child. It can be hard to tell the severity, since teens are sometimes unwilling to talk about their feelings with a trusted adult.
Many of these signs fall under the category of “normal” teen behavior. If your child is showing many or a majority of these, they may be suffering from depression.
- Lack of energy and motivation
- Skipping school
- Irritability
- Eating too much or too little
- Poor memory
- Inability to concentrate or make decisions
- Sleep issues
- Loss of interest in their usual activities
- Withdrawing from friends and family
- Low self-esteem
- Feeling worthless, hopeless, or guilty
- Getting angry over small things
- Having conflict with the people they care about
- Fixating on failures and self-criticizing
- Self-harming
- Thoughts of death, dying, or suicide
What can you do to help?
If you’re worried your teen has depression, the most important first step is opening the lines of communication between you. Make sure they know you’re there for them and let them know they can be honest about how they’re feeling.
Stay away from accusations that they’re lazy or misbehaving. Let them know they’re welcome to join you in your daily activities, whether that’s running errands or eating meals. You can model healthy habits for them.
You can also validate their feelings by uplifting their successes. When they do well on a school assignment, let them know how proud you are. This can start a conversation where you acknowledge that it’s okay to feel depressed and that it’s amazing what they’re able to accomplish. This can be a time where you empathize with them and maybe share some of your own experiences.
It’s okay if they don’t open up to these petitions at first. Don’t feel dejected if they continue to keep to themselves. What’s most important is that they know they can trust you.
What can therapy do to help?
You and your teen shouldn’t tackle depression alone. If they’re having suicidal ideation, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline right now and speak to a crisis counselor.
For long-term help, finding a talk therapist who specializes in cognitive-behavioral therapy or dialectical behavior therapy can give them the skills to cope with their depression. You may also want to see a psychiatrist who can prescribe antidepressants.
To find out more about how counseling can help you and your teen confront depression, please reach out to us.
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