...DEPRESSION IN ADOLESCENTS 2. Table of Contents Introduction …………………………………………………………………………….…....3. Background of Depression in Adolescence…….…………………………………………….4. Causes ...............................................................................................................................…...5. Symptoms………………………………………………………………………………….…6. Diagnosis….…………………………………………………………………………………. 7. Treatment……………………………………………………………………………………..7. Epidemiology of Depression in Youth……………………………………………………….9. Contextualised issues pertaining to Depression in Adolescence……………………………10. The impact of Culture on Adolescent Depression…………………………………………...10. Abnormal behaviours associated with Adolescent Depression….…………………………..11. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………...11. References…………………………………………………………………………………...12. DEPRESSION IN ADOLESCENTS 3. This research paper will address depression in adolescents. Depression is often labelled as ‘the sickness of our time’ due to its prolific nature. Some of the causes, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of depression in adolescents as well as the contextualised issues, cultural implications and other abnormal behaviour associated with the disorder will be discussed. DEPRESSION IN ADOLESCENTS 4. Background of Depression in Adolescence Adolescence is the period of transition from childhood to adulthood, a stage of major growth and development in which significant physiological, cognitive, psychological...
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...Depression in Adolescents: A Look at Effects, Causes, and Treatments Christopher Marshall Jaffe Vanderbilt University Abstract This paper describes and analyzes the very general term of depression, specifically keying on depression in adolescents. The paper is split into four main sections, the first being the definition of the problem. This section will discuss what the problem is and how it is defined in the scientific world. The second section will outline and present the effects and importance of depression on the individual, family, and society as a whole. The third section will discuss the causes of depression using theories such as the Hopelessness Theory of Depression, the Response Style Theory of Depression, and Beck’s Cognitive Theory of depression. And lastly the fourth section of this paper will discuss different treatments to the problem and their effectiveness. Definition Depression Depression has been around before the ancient Greeks and even before it got deemed “depression” the famous, “Greek physician Hippocrates, called it melancholia” (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2012). It is so common in the psychological world now that some refer to it as the common cold. Depression can be described simply as, “A mood or emotional state that is marked by feelings of low self-worth or guilt and a reduced ability to enjoy life” (Encyclopedia Britannica...
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...1. General description of depression * Describe depression Add the exact definition of depression. Depression is a prevalent problem among adolescents, which may cause further mental or physical issues. Serious depression is regarded as diseases and is one of the oldest recorded diseases in medicine history. * Why is it important * How does it impact the biological, psychological, social development? Except the weight loss, loss of appetite, sleep disturbance and some other common symptoms, the impact of depression in biological development has always been underestimated, depression will comorbid with other chronic diseases such as angina, arthritis, asthma, and diabetes which will leads to worse health situation. (Moussavi, S., Chatterji, S., Verdes, E., Tandon, A., Patel, V., & Ustun, B. (2007). Depression, chronic diseases, and decrements in health: results from the World Health Surveys. Lancet, 370(9590), 851–8. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(07)61415-9) In term of psychology, depression is not a fleeting sadness but a pervasive and relentless sense of despair. A lack of interest in life accompanied by feelings of uselessness (needs to be improved) In terms of social development, depression will also cause plenty of problems. Adolescents with depression will be easier to go to extreme which will lead to the unstableness of the society. * Why is it important to adolescent development? Adolescents with depression are more likely to have harmful behaviors...
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...2012 Professor Tobin Hart Adolescent Depression Experts estimate that 5% of all teenagers will suffer from depression. Unfortunately, only 20% of depressed teens are appropriately diagnosed and treated. It is a disorder that disturbs their mood, causes a loss of interest or pleasure in activities they should enjoy and makes them irritable to almost any aspect of life. It is very difficult to diagnose depression among teens because of the normal sporadic mood swings that are included in the teenage years; nevertheless, persistent unhappiness or moodiness is not normal in anyone. Therefore there are many key factors in looking for depression among teens. There are multiple things correlated with depression among adolescents. Some examples include the normal process of maturing and the stress that occurs with it, influence of sex hormones, conflicts with parents, and the death of a friend or relative. Also teens who are most likely to become depressed when they experience stressful events have a factor of low self-esteem , are very critical of themselves and have feelings that they have little or no control over negative events (T. Rogge & D. Zieve (Eds.), 2012). In this paper, I will investigate the numerous symptoms and signs of depression among teens, the treatments taken to cope with depression, and the prevention and consequences of depression in adolescents. It is hypothesized that female adolescents will display higher levels of depression related symptoms and behaviors...
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...Depression Margarita Perez 2/19/15 Psychology 101 Carrington College On-Line In today’s society, millions of people are affected everyday with depression, in which it is very difficult for them to see a positive side. It has been proven that with the right medication and treatment there is hope. What is depression? Depression comes in so many forms and it affects every individual different. This can be from major disorder, anxiety, and clinical disorders. Depression is a serious medical illness and it is not something that is just made up in a person’s mind. When one begins to feel sad, loss, anger, or frustrated for no reason, this can be some of the early signs of depression. Depression impacts the brain that causes chemical changes and imbalances in the brain. Who is at risk? It has been said that one in every ten people will suffer from some type of depression. As depression continues to affect millions of Americans, it is also one of the most common serious brain diseases in the United States. One fact of depression that hold true, is depression is highly more common in women than it is in men. This may be due to female hormones, but yet we need to take into account that men are less likely to admit they may be depressed and seek medical care. Other factors of who may be at risk is age. Major depression is most likely to affect adults between the ages of 45 to 50. Race is yet another risk factor, which we see in Blacks and Hispanic Americans. The CDC show...
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...Depression is a mental health condition characterised by feeling intensely sad, low and moody for prolonged periods of time. Depression is one of the most common mental disorders experienced. If depression is not treated or dealt with correctly, it can keep people from functioning normally and affect every aspect of their life, often leading to social isolation, and in the worst case scenario, can result in suicide. According to the Australia Institute of Health and Welfare (2007), a mental disorder affects one in four young people. Of all age groups, 18-24 year olds have the highest prevalence of mental disorders and the leading cause of death in 15-24 year olds is youth suicide (ABS, 2012). In Australia in 2010, mental and behavioural disorders accounted for 12.9% of the total...
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...disorder is a mood disorder that disrupts an individual’s emotional state. Suffers have states of mania characterized by euphoria and states of depression. There are 4 types of bipolar disorder diagnosed by their states of mania versus hypomania. There is no single cause for bipolar disorder. It can begin as soon as early adolescents, although it often gets misdiagnosed. With treatments such as mood stabilizers and antidepressants, episodes of mania and depression can be significantly reduced. Without treatment, the risk for suicide and accidental death are increased. About Bipolar Disorder Mood disorders are disorders that change a persons’ emotional state to greater extremes and for longer periods of time than most people. Mood disorders can be either uni-polar or bipolar. Uni-polar mood disorders, such as depression change individuals’ emotions in only one manner. Depression causes feelings of extreme sadness or hopelessness. Bipolar disorder gets its name from the fact that it can affect a persons’ mood in two directions, extreme happiness or extreme sadness. In terms of the earth, the poles are the northernmost and southernmost points on Earth; they are the furthest point you can go before changing directions. Varied states of extreme happiness, mania, and extreme sadness, depression, is why many refer to this disorder as manic depression. In the context of bipolar disorder, both extremes can result in death. Researchers study the types of bipolar disorder, the course that...
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...Depression is a disease that afflicts the human psyche in such a way that the afflicted tends to act and react abnormally toward others and themselves. There are different types of depression such as dysthymia which is mild depression. People can work and perform daily tasks as normal, but they have a hard time. Another type is major depression, or a major depressive episode, and is more severe. This is the depression that prevents people from functioning and interferes with daily tasks.(Owen, 2000) Children who suffer from depression experience the same symptoms as adults. There are several symptoms divided into three categories: cornerstone symptoms, typical symptoms, and atypical symptoms. The cornerstone symptoms include depressive mood, feeling down or sad nearly the entire day, and apathy, loss of interest in things that would normally give joy or pleasure. Typical symptoms include significant loss of appetite, trouble sleeping, slow personal tempo, fatigue, feelings of worthlessness or extreme guilt, trouble concentrating, and recurring thoughts of death and suicide. Atypical symptoms include fast personal tempo, significant increase in appetite, and sleeping too much. People experience depression in different ways. Someone who has an episode of major depression experiences at least one of the cornerstone symptoms plus several of the other symptoms every day. (Owen, 2000) Another type of depression is depression with psychotic features. Most people who experience depression...
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...peers. In this paper I will explore the probabilities of the following grievances experienced by the adolescent youth which are drugs, suicide, and homelessness. : : Body of the Essay : : Adolescence is the developmental stage between childhood and adulthood; it generally refers to a period ranging from teen years through 20s. As now life is growing more complex, however, adolescents are increasingly cut off from the activities of their elders, leaving most young people with education as their sole occupation. Inexorably, this has isolated many of them from the adult world and has prolonged their adolescence. Now almost all over the world the adolescent years have become marked by violence to an alarming degree. The phenomenon of teenage suicide has become particularly disturbing, but risk-taking behaviors of many sorts can be observed, including alcohol and drug abuse. Adolescents only want to have fun and go to parties. They get addicted to drugs and start to revolve their lives around drugs. Some get arrested and others encounter death. Addiction is so powerful that it takes control of people's brains and only tells them to do wrong. Drugs are highly Addictive, and most of the adolescents main goal is to fit in the group by doing what the whole group does, this is how they get into crack, booze, pot and crystal. Dr. Nowinski's book in which he states his study of Adolescents drugs and addicts describes...
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...the study of adolescent depression and it's characteristic features has gained a lot more attention and research in recent years, especially due to the fact that the rate of adolescent depression has seemed to have increased of late. A great deal more research has been done on adult depression in the past, thus the study and interpretation of adolescent depression is a relatively new research field in comparison as discussed by Crowe (2006) Adult criteria was used to diagnose adolescent depression in early studies of adolescent depression, which was in the 1970s and 1980s era. The variations in the comparative rates of the presence of particular symptoms between adolescence and adults was found to be rather small by the Oregon Adolescent Depression Project found by Roberts et al. 1995, cited by Crowe (2006). Although there is evidence that children meet adult criteria for depression, there are still uncertainties about the validity of the concept of depressive disorder in children and adolescents found by Harrington (2001) as cited by Crowe (2006) The DSM-IV-TR (American Psychiatric Association2000; p. 353) suggests that ‘the core symptoms of a major depressive episode are the same for children and adolescents, although there is data that suggest that the prominence of characteristic symptoms may change with age’ as discussed by Crowe ( 2006) This essay will aim at discussing problems related to identifying, diagnosing and the assessment of adolescent depression, taking into...
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...life. Depression is a mental disorder that can affect how a person acts or feels on an everyday basis, but this must be present for at least two weeks before diagnosis. Something that can be said is that some people choose to be depressed, but no one chooses to be depressed and still something that person must live with (“10 Little Known Facts About Depression”). Also, if a person thinks that their depression is hard on them then they should know that it could be ten times worse on family members and friends (“10 Little Known Facts About Depression”). So when a person is depressed, they should not turn to drugs or alcohol,...
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...What is Depression? Depression is a medical illness that causes a constant feeling of hopelessness and lack of interest. Depression affects how the person feels, behaves and thinks. This can lead to emotional and physical problems. Typically, people with depression find it hard to go about their day-to-day activities, and may also feel that life is not worth living. However, depression is not uniform. Signs and symptoms may be experienced by some sufferers and not by others. How severe the symptoms are, and how long they last depends on the individual person and their illness. Warning signs include symptoms such as: constant feeling of sadness, anxiety, and emptiness , a general feeling of pessimism, feelings of restlessness or hopelessness, loss of interest in activities, low energy or fatigue, disturbed sleep patterns, and in extreme cases suicidal thoughts. Many people are ashamed to ask for help because they are afraid of what other people might think. However, depression is a common illness for which there are many treatments. Types of Depression There are many different types of depression. Events in your life can trigger some, while others are caused by chemical changes in your brain. A few examples include: Major Depression, in which you feel depressed most of the time for most days of the week. Bipolar depression, in which you have high and low extremes. During the low phase, patients have the symptoms of major depression, while in the high phase they exhibit mania...
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...Williams Bryant & Stratton College Psychology101 Ms. Manigault July 15, 2011 Bipolar disorder in children and adolescents is a lifelong condition, however it can affect both how you feel, and how you act. The disorder is thought to be caused by chemical imbalances in the brain that can result in extreme mood swings. Mood swings are from manic highs depressive to lows depressive. The chemical imbalances are believed to lead to the symptoms that the child or adolescents experience with bipolar disorder. They must have experienced a high period which is called mania or hypomania. Bipolar mania is described as an extreme high or feeling abnormal. Bipolar disorder is known as manic depressive that have mood swings from ecstatic elation to deep depression. A manic person may show excessive energy, lessened need for sleep, and inflated self-esteem. People with bipolar would have depression are more likely to have insomnia and agitation. “Those that have bipolar disorder also exhibit social withdrawal, and irritability. Some people with the bipolar disorder attempt suicide when the mood shifts from the elated phase toward depression. They will do almost anything to escape the depths of depression that lay ahead” (Spencer, 2011, p.257). Funded teams of the federally funded has stated and investigated the normal age for Bipolar disorder in children and adolescents starts at the age of six years old. “The federally funded studies have shown 7 percent of children seen at the psychiatric...
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...Childhood Depression Abstract Empirical evidence shows that that depression disorder in children is a common condition that affects emotional, physical, and social development. Risk factors include parental conflict, a family history of depression, poor peer relationship, negative thinking, and deficit in coping skills. Treatment criteria of children and adults are the same, with the exception that children may display irritability rather than depressed or sad mood, and loss of weight may be seen as a failure gain appropriate weight milestones. Diagnosis and treatment should take into account developmental stage, suicidality, severity of depression, and social and environmental factors. The recommended therapies for mild depression include interpersonal therapy and cognitive behavior therapy and serve as appropriate adjuvant to medical treatments for those with moderate and severe depression. This paper explore depression among children, outlines different types of diagnosis, as well as the parameters for rare situations in which practitioners can try antidepressants when psychotherapeutic options fail and the depression is in severe stage. Introduction About 2.8 percent of children younger than 13 years suffer from depression at any given point in time (Clark, Jansen, & Cloy, 2012). The incidence of depression among children is a major concern because of the damaging and acute consequences associated with the disorder. Research shows that 60 percent of adolescents with...
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...drugs for the very first time. According to National data 2.5 million youths in America have misused or abused prescription drugs in their lifetime, reporting that one in five high school students have at least taken one prescription painkillers without a doctor’s prescription during adolescence, More disturbing yet, is the fact that they 47% of adolescents admit getting their drugs from their own medicine cabinets at home, and nearly two-thirds of youths aged 12–17 who abused pain medications admit to having received them from friends or family members. Experts say youths are in greater danger of ingesting unfamiliar or unidentified pills when sharing...
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