FREE ESSAY ON ADOLESCENT DEPRESSION

ADOLESCENT DEPRESSION

Depression is a disease that afflicts the human psyche in such a way that the afflicted
tend to act and react abnormally toward others and themselves. Adolescent depression is
greatly under diagnosed, and leads to serious difficulties in school, and personal
adjustment. The reason why depression is often overlooked in children is because children
are not always able to express how they feel. Therefore, teachers should be trained in
dealing with depressed youths, and to advise the parents of the child to seek
professional treatment. School is the place where children spend most of their waking
hours learning, socializing, and growing. A child needs to be mentally healthy in order
to learn properly, and sometimes problems arise at home, with friends, or with
themselves. These problems need to be noticed, and talked about. Teachers have to pay
attention to adolescents' behavioral patterns, and work with the child on a one to one
basis. The child can then open up and talk freely with the teacher about anything that is
on their mind. Learning disabilities or conduct disorder can put a child in greater risk
of depression. Therefore, treating one problem and ignoring the other will not help the
child overcome their difficulties (Fassler 63). Family must also play a major role in
helping their depressed adolescent. Until the last decade, the commonly held view has
been that depression affected persons in their middle years, and did not occur in
childhood or adolescence. A lot has changed in the past decade. Due to systematic
followup studies of children under treatment, and depressed parents, the onset of
depression occurs during adolescence, and must be treated during adolescence (Weissman
210). 
Depression has a wide range of symptoms, from being sad or mad to withdrawal from others,
or lashing out at others. Symptoms of youth depression are often masked. Instead of
expressing sadness, teenagers may express boredom and irritability, or may choose to
engage in risky behaviors. Other emotional problems make it hard to recognize depression
in a child, but usually overlap with depression. Attention Deficit Disorder (ADHD), is a
neurochemical problem which makes it difficult for a child to pay attention or focus.
These children are very fidgety, have trouble sitting still, and may interrupt others.
New research suggests that out of 1,700 adolescents with this disorder, 16 percent have
an accompanying eye disorder that makes focusing on nearby targets difficult. Children
with ADHD are three times more likely to develop this insufficiency than others (Dixit
18). A depressed child may also have a conduct disorder, in which the child consistently
violates rules that may be inappropriate for his or her age. Symptoms for this include
bullying, stealing, lying, and being consistently disobedient (Fassler 66). Anxiety
disorders affect adolescents as well as adults. The disorder may stop a child from
participating in daily activities, and leave them feeling worried, withdrawn, and even
restless. These children display overly clingy or needy behavior. Depression and learning
disabilities have a strong link to each other. If the learning problem is not accurately
detected, it snowballs up, and these negative experiences lead to emotional problems for
the child thus, depression (Fassler 72). For example, if a child is having trouble
learning grammar in elementary school and does not get any help, then later on in high
school, the child may have trouble writing essays. Other underlying symptoms of
depression are eating disorders, hyperactivity, and substance abuse. That is why teachers
need to be able to identify and consult with the child and parents as soon as they notice
a problem. For children, adolescents, and young adults with learning disabilities school
can be an unpleasant and highly frustrating environment. It is believed that continuous
stimulation of a genetically underdeveloped area of the cerebral hemisphere makes that
area surrounding the cerebral cortex work less well (Fassler 125). For example, language
impaired and dyslexic children (left hemisphere learning disability) often become moody,
irritable, and angry when asked to speak, recall words, or read. Poor spellers (left
hemisphere learning disability), practicing spelling for the spelling test, become
increasingly dysphoric, anxious, and irritable as the school year progresses. The
repeated attempts to preform language functions by these children stimulates poorly
functioning in the left cerebral hemisphere which leads to dysfunction of the opposite
right hemisphere areas which results in depressive symptoms (Fassler 125). These examples
represent the interaction between environmental stress and cerebral dysfunction. Right
hemisphere learning/ communication disorders are characterized by difficulties with
social communication including social discomfort, dysprosody (difficulties understanding
the gestures or speech tones of others), ordering problems (difficulties with sequencing,
timing, and context), motor and social dyspraxias (clumsiness), Young people with right
hemisphere learning communication disorders, during adolescence and adulthood, are at
high risk for major depressive disorder often exacerbated by the inappropriate stress
promoted by education directed at their communication difficulties.
In many communities, the only kids who can access mental health services are those who
are deeply disturbed. Therefore, kids are more likely to talk to a school-based counselor
because it is cheaper, it can be anonymous, and it is right there for a child to take
advantage of (Koch 595). These school based programs also give schools less expensive and
more immediate options for dealing with disruptive kids. Instead of punishing a child
with detention, teachers can send the adolescent to an on site clinic to talk to someone.
The best hope to prevent depression is to teach resilience training in schools. This will
teach kids to be better able to handle disappointments and frustration (Koch 601).
Through resilience, children will feel less overwhelmed, less stressed, and less worried
about daily disturbances. When educators refer to a school curriculum, they have compact,
consciously planned course objectives in mind. Their methods of organization are
scientific, and focus on the lesson, not on the difference in children's learning
patterns. In contrast, students experience an "unwritten curriculum" characterized by
informality, and lack of conscious planning (Wren 595). Students with learning disorders
who are thriving to achieve success, but may need a little help along the way, may feel
that this compact curriculum is too fast paced for them. Teachers and administrators
often underestimate the 
importance of the dynamics of human interactions when conducting organizational
behaviors. Educators need to be aware of the symbolic aspects of the school environment,
as well as adolescents' and teachers' perceptions of how to learn, and how to teach.
Greater understanding of the hidden curriculum will help them to achieve the goal of
providing effective learning skills for students.
Teachers are a key factor in helping children out. They can model appropriate behavior,
keep communication open and warm, and offer acceptance to those students who may seem
"odd" because of their gift. They can act as mentors, and share insights from
developmental specialists. In addition, they can be alert to the warning signs of
depression, and take remedial action. No student should have to stuggle alone. A team 
approach involving caring adults can effectively address the existential dread of today's
adolescent (Wren 594). Family dynamics also contribute to depression in a child, such as
physical or emotional abuse, substance abuse, criticism, idealizing, not enough reaction
to the child's actions, and depressed parents themselves. Along with teachers, parents
have to contribute in helping their child overcome their deep, repressed thoughts.
Effective parental behaviors include helping children with homework, encouraging them to
study, offering guidance on educational decisions, and having contact with school
teachers (Carter 41). Recent studies have shown that parent- child conversations
concerning school related topics contribute to educational success (Carter 33). Both
parents and teachers have to pay attention and recognize the thoughts that automatically
cross the child's mind when they feel low, evaluate these thoughts and acknowledge that
they may not accurately reflect reality, and generate more accurate explanations to
replace less accurate thoughts. This will give the child a better understanding of what
they are going through, and how to fix the problem. Of course all children will
experience some stressful situations, transitions, and losses while growing up. No one
can prevent these events from happening, but what parents can do to protect their
children from depression is to raise them to be resilient. Resilient children are able to
recover readily from disappointments, frustrations, or other misfortunes. When parenting
for resiliency, the parent(s) become the mediator, shaper, and interpreter of their
child's experiences by responding to their kids in positive, affirming ways to help them
create the foundation for a flexible and dynamic coping style that will let them bounce
back from life's dilemmas and move on happily and productively. Good communication
between adolescents' and parents' is the key factor to the prevention of depression later
on in a child's life. Children need to be assured that they can talk openly about
anything at all with their parents, and know that they can turn for help whenever they
feel they need it. Good communication between kids and parents also prevents children
from feeling that they have to keep troubling emotions bottled up inside which can make a
child feel overwhelmed, and vulnerable to depression. When kids know that they can talk
about their problems and feelings, they have a great coping tool at their disposal. They
can come for support for a problem that they simply do not know how to handle. Without
this coping tool, children are much more vulnerable to sadness, self defeat, and
isolation, which will put them in a depressed state. Most parents love their children so
much that they want to protect them from all of life's pain, and keep them happy and safe
forever. Yet life is not perfect, so this type of protection will raise emotionally
fragile children. Allowing children to experience frustrations, upsets, ad
disappointments gives them important practice in coping with life's may challenges, and
helps children build a healthy, natural resistance to emotional difficulties like
depression.
The Food and Drug Administration is urging drug companies to do more research on the
impact of antidepressants on children. If proven safe, more children can get help with
psychiatric drugs (Koch 615). Currently, no medications are approved by the Food and Drug
administration to treat depression in patients under the age of eighteen. Despite the
lack of FDA approval, an increasing number of psychiatrists, and other 
physicians are prescribing Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, and other antidepressants to children
diagnosed with moderate to severe chronic depression (Koch 616). Antidepressants work by
allowing certain neurotransmitters to accumulate in the central nervous system. They are
given to elevate mood, counter suicidal thoughts, and increase the effectiveness of
psychotherapy (Weissman 195). Prescribing antidepressants to the young raises thorny
issues. There is not an objective test for depression, forcing parents and physicians to
decide whether a child is clinically depressed or simply riding the roller coaster
emotions of growing up. Critics worry about aggressive marketing tactics and consequent
overuse. Antidepressants often are used daily for many years, yet researchers haven't
conducted long term studies to see how the chemicals affect still growing bodies. Within
ten years, doctors are reaching for the ability to pinpoint the causes of distress, make
treatments more specific, hopefully to the point of where the first episode of depression
in kids can be pointed out and treated (Koch 608). Until we have more research to prove
the safeness of antidepressants among growing children, and more ideas of how our brain
actually works, the best we as a society can do is educate our children through
resilliance to help depressed kids the best way we can.