Example custom essay about Clinical Depression in Adolescents

Clinical Depression of Young People

While sadness is often an appropriate response to difficult situations presented in life, persistent feelings of unhappiness and an absence of interest in one-enjoyable activities may represent signs of clinical depression. In adults, these symptoms are widely known, but depression in adolescents may present in a variety of ways which complicate identification of the condition. Properly understanding depression in adolescents is critical not only due to the increased difficulty of proper diagnosis, but also because the results of depression in immature individuals are sometimes more dramatic than those in adults. Children and adolescents suffering from clinical depression may act out, resulting in violence to themselves or others (Teen depression").

One of the most difficult aspects of diagnosing clinical depression in adolescents are the numerous other changes associated with this stage of life. A clinically depressed teenager may lose interest in activities he or she once enjoyed, appear taciturn or withdrawn, suffer mood swings, and may even begin hurting him or herself. Violent episodes are not uncommon, as well, as adolescents attempt to cope with emotions which they do not clearly understand ("Teen depression"). However, many of these symptoms may be characterized by the typical negative behaviors associated with adolescence, so parents, authority figures, and even the children themselves may be unaware that they are suffering from clinical depression ("Depression in children.").

This emotionally tumultuous period of life presents similar problems for the children themselves. While adults familiar with their own state of emotional equilibrium may notice sudden changes in their typical emotional state and seek professional help, adolescent children may not recognize the sadness and other indicators as symptoms of depression ("Teen depression"). Furthermore, because they lack both emotional maturity and the vocabulary necessary to express their experiences, teens and children are prone to expressing those emotions in other ways. The task of identifying potentially symptomatic conditions in an adolescent falls to parents, counselors, or other authority figures who may mistake them for typical signs of adolescent development without proper professional training.

The long-term effects of untreated clinical depression in adolescents can be extreme. According to the National Institute for Mental Health, adolescents suffering from depression are more likely than adults to attempt suicide, due partly to their incomplete emotional development and lack of mature impulse control. The same factors contribute to the likelihood that a clinically depressed adolescent will attempt to cause harm to others as an expression of frustration with their inability to articulate their feelings any other way ("Depression in children"). Furthermore, and most importantly, even without violent symptoms a chronically depressed child will likely suffer from depression into adulthood. The longer the symptoms persist, the more difficult it may become to provide treatment because the sufferer considers this psychological state to be "normal" (Thapar et al., 2012).

Depression may also have long-term consequences on other aspects of an adolescent's life as an adult, interfering with normal emotional development. The adolescent years are a crucial period of mental and emotional growth, in which young people learn to manage relationships and their own impulses. Clinical depression can interfere with this process, causing problems that can impact relationships, careers, academic success, friendships, and treatment outcomes later in life (Thapar et al., 2012). For these reasons, and because the symptoms of depression may be masked by other, more appropriate behaviors, clinical depression in adolescents should be a subject of added concern both for parents and mental health care workers.

References

"Depression in children and adolescents." (n.d.) National Institute of Mental Health.

"Teen depression." (n.d.) The Mayo Clinic.

Thapar, A., Collishaw, S., Pine, D., & Thapar, A. (2012). "Depression in adolescence." The Lancet, 379(9820): 1056-4067. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(11)60871-4

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