Depression in Teens Too High

Depression in Teens Too High pexels.com This, in turn, could be a large part of the reason that suicide rates among teens are as high as they are. Basically, it’s one thing to have depression and report it; it’s another entirely to have depression, report it and go untreated. But no matter the reason, researchers are hell-bent on figuring out what’s leading to these increased suicide rates in order to curb the trend. According to Dr. Ramin Mojtabai and his colleagues from Johns Hopkins University, “The 12-month prevalence of major depressive episodes increased from 8.7 percent in 2005 to 11.3 percent in 2014 in adolescents and from 8.8 percent to 9.6 percent in young adults.” In this report, published in the journal Pediatrics, Mojtabai and his colleagues looked at over 170,000 surveys from teenagers and at least 180,000 surveys from adults (the 18-25 age block). According to the report, “Each year almost one in 11 adolescents and young adults have a major depressive episode … The prevalence of these episodes increased between 2005 and 2014.” And who’s the most vulnerable to such increased rates? Specifically, white individuals. Most specifically, white females. The reason? We don’t know at the moment, but the researchers that conducted the study have a few guesses. For one thing, they stated, “Adolescent girls may have been exposed to a greater degree to depression risk factors in recent years.” They continued in saying: “For example, cyberbullying may have increased more dramatically among girls than boys. As compared with adolescent boys, adolescent girls also now use mobile phones with texting applications more frequently and intensively and problematic mobile phone use among young people have been linked to depressed mood.” Still, doctors aren’t reporting that they are treating teenagers for the issue. Basically, this suggests to the researchers that more teens are going without treatment. According to them, “Depression is a sizeable and growing deadly threat to our U.S. adolescent population.” As for the reasons, we can only guess. One of the reasons could be that there’s a general fear of antidepressants and the harm they do rather than the good. Many believe that antidepressants can increase the risk of suicide, though there isn’t actually any direct link between the two. The other potential reason could be that teens aren’t actually telling anyone. They could be reporting their depression in surveys, but keeping it to themselves when it comes to family, friends and doctors. According to Dr. Anne Glowinski and Guiseppe D’Amelio from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, this needs to be studied more in-depth, and quickly. In a commentary from the two, they stated, “the other problem, that of ever-increasing untreated youth depression, concerns all of us at a time when suicide is now the second leading cause of death for adolescents aged 15 to 19 years.” Essentially, depression is a beast that we haven’t yet learned how to tackle. Sure, we have antidepressant drugs and remedies, but that doesn’t solve the problem when depression goes unreported, which it seems to a majority of the time. The stigma surrounding such antidepressants, for one, needs to be abolished. And for another thing, we need to, as a society, become more aware of the signs, be kinder to people and do our part to help make the world a better place. Even simply being polite while you’re in line at Starbucks on your college campus could make someone’s day. The little things are more important than you know, and being proactive against such a terrible disease is a great start. In the meantime, on the scientific end, researchers need to come up with a solution that’s going to last, one that’s going to significantly decrease those suicide rates and increase those that are being treated for depression. Of course, I suppose it’s easier said than done, but we can take steps now to help move things along.