Multidimensional X-ray of Depression

Depression in Young age

Sunita Khadka
Director /Counselor, Orchid Garden Nepal

Why do mental health difficulties tend to start in childhood, not adulthood? Research of the WHO shows us that around 75% of mental health difficulties like depression start before a child turns 18 years old and that around half of all mental health problems in adulthood start before the age of 15. Globally, depression is the fourth leading cause of physical illness and disability among adolescents aged 15-19 years and the 15th leading cause for those age for aged 10-14 years. Mental health problems do not only cause physical ailments, but adolescents with mental health conditions are also particularly vulnerable to social exclusion, discrimination, stigma, educational difficulties, risk-taking behavior, and human rights violation. Thus emotional disorders like depression and anxiety can harm many areas of life. At its worst, they can even lead to self–harm and suicide.

Adolescent brain

During the period of adolescence, the teenage brain is only around 80% mature and does not reach full maturity until around 25-30 years of age. The prefrontal cortex is one of the areas that do not reach maturity during childhood. It is located the front of the brain and plays a vital role in activities such as decision making and planning, social interaction, understanding others, and impulse control because this part is not fully developed during adolescence, teenagers simply find it harder to take into account someone else’s perspective to guide their behavior. The Limbic system is an area located deep within the brain and controls emotion and reward-seeking behavior. Research has indicated that this is especially highly sensitive to reward-seeking behavior during adolescence. This explains why teenagers are much more likely to engage in risky reward-seeking behavior compared to either adult whose brains have fully matured.

What is Depression?

It is important to be aware of the signs and symptoms of depression and anxiety disorders because depression is a seriously debilitating illness and can affect all aspects of a teenager’s life including school, personal interest, activities, relationships with peers, and other family members. It can also be very hard to spot for several reasons. It may present as prolonged sadness but be mindful that depression in young people may show up as angry and irritable behavior. Be aware of behavior that represents a marked change from what is normal for that young person. Questions you can ask yourself are is this continual change and is having a significant impact on the young person’s life? When a child turns out to be depressed, it is common for parents to wonder how this has happened and if this makes them bad parents. However, many factors can contribute to the development of depression including genetics, life events, psychological factors, and the huge physical, emotional, social, and cognitive changes that occur during adolescence. It is important to know that these risk factors interact in very complicated ways, which makes the effects vary from person to person.

Some possible causes of Depression

Social factors

These can refer to triggering events, which may occur just before the period of low mood. Teenager triggers tend to relate to for example relationships (with family, friends, and girlfriends/boyfriends) failure or fear of failing, like schoolwork or hobbies. Some children who experience many negative life events such as grief, deprivation, and severe trauma may be at increased risk of depression. However, the negative impact can be reduced if children feel supported through their difficulties and can learn to cope when things go wrong.

Biological factors

These can refer to DNA and genetics as well as developmental factors. Research has not identified a single gene or group of genes that put people at risk of developing depression. The prefrontal region which helps us manage emotions and our understanding of the world is still maturing so they are highly sensitive to social cues and reactive to minor disagreements with friends and being excluded or ridiculed. They are also a response to rewards often those which involve risks such as smoking drinking and taking drugs.

Psychological factors

These refer to an individual’s resilience. Resilience tends to protect against developing depression and stems from having good social support such as having family or friends that can be drawn on in times of difficulty. They will balance in life being involved in a variety of activities and relationships. A young person may go to great lengths to hide their difficulties and be unwilling to talk to other people about how they are feeling.

Environmental factors

Environmental causes of mental illness in adolescents are typically at their core a result of stress. Common sources of stress in adolescence are social stress, isolation, substance abuse. Other common sources of stress include trauma, emotional sexual, and physical abuse.

Core signs of depression

As a parent, you know your child better than none of the others. You are the first person to find the signs of behavioral changes or the daily routine of the children. They observed the feeling of low or unhappiness for a prolonged period. This is difficult from the more normal days. They will lose interest in and enjoyment of usual activities and showed an irritable mood is a less commonly known sign of depression.

Depression and Self-harm

When young persons are depressed, they may engage in self-harm behavior. This refers to any harmful behavior that is aimed towards themselves, either directly like cutting or burning the skin or banging one’s head against a hard surface. They indirectly engage in risky behavior such as drug-taking, unprotected sex. It’s understandable for parents and other adults to be very concerned about self-harm but it’s important to remain calm to try to understand what might be going on for them. Self-harm might be triggered by a variety of things including relationship difficulties, trauma, grief, abuse, bullying, negative self events, and general pressure such as around exam time.

Depression and Suicidal thoughts

Suicidal thoughts and suicidal behavior can be symptoms of moderate to severe depression. These symptoms typically respond to proper treatment. It’s important to help teenagers to talk to someone about their thoughts to ensure their safety. If you are concerned then we suggest that you ask direct questions such as Do you have thoughts about not wanting to be live? Are you having thoughts about suicide?

Asking about Depression

We have to observe the young persons and notice what is going on? We need to keep on eye whether any changes are just a short-term phase or part of more lasting difficulties. Keep on concerns with your young person and be sure they do not like being criticized and judged. Keep in mind and make sure that they know you are there for them. Let them know that you are available to listen when they are ready to talk. Take them seriously even if what they tell you does not make immediate sense. Think in and plan when might be the best time to talk to them. Sometimes informal talk while both of you are doing something in the kitchen, garden, or when you are in the morning or evening walk somewhere together can be the best time to have conservation when you are side by side rather than facing each other.

How adults can support a young person with Depression ?

A person in crisis may not be aware that they need help or be able to seek it on their own. They may also need to be reminded that effective treatment for depression is available and that many people can very quickly begin to experience relief from depressive symptoms. We can talk about those people who recover from depression and living normal life.

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