"Adolescent Depression" The term appears more and more frequently. According to epidemiological survey , the incidence of adolescent depression disorder is about 5%.
Currently, there are about 100 million adolescents aged 12-18 in my country. According to this incidence rate, the total number of adolescents suffering from depression is about 5 million.
In other words, it may be more intuitive, that is, in every 50-person class, there is a high probability that 2 children will suffer from depression.
Adolescent is a critical stage of learning and growth in life, so it is very important to pay attention to adolescent depression!
So, how can parents identify their children's emotional state in a timely and accurate manner, and how should they provide appropriate help when their children face emotional troubles?
Identify depression in adolescents
Perhaps many parents will worry about this:
"I don't care about my children, but how should I observe their emotions? How to distinguish depression?"
Teenagers are in a period of very rich emotions, and are also periods of unstable and prone to fluctuations.
It is actually very common and normal for children to experience emotions such as "depression", "anxiety", and "sadness" during their growth.
Usually these negative emotions will not last long, and will not make the child like a "changing individual", and will hardly lead to the occurrence of suicide.
But if you find that the child appears:
- Continuously depressed emotions
- may manifest as sadness, unhappiness, tantrums
- Decreased interest and lack of pleasure
- almost most of the day, and the duration lasts more than two weeks
Then parents need to pay special attention to the possibility of children suffering from depression, because these two are the core symptoms of depression.
At this time, parents need to give their children more care, conduct more in-depth observation and understanding, and seek help from professional psychologists or psychological counselors in a timely manner if necessary.
What misunderstandings are easy for parents to fall into when dealing with depression
?
If the child is at risk of depression or has been diagnosed with depression, how should parents view this disease? I hope everyone can avoid these two common psychological misunderstandings below
.
. "Depression is too lazy and too pretentious"
Depression is a real disease that affects emotions, behaviors, and physical health.
Depression is affected by genes or other physiological factors, but all stress events or negative experiences may lead to the occurrence of depression.
Fortunately, depression is not incurable. On the premise of actively seeking treatment or intervention, its cure rate is as high as about 80%.
. "If you have depression, just want to open it up."
In the age range of 15-24 years old, suicide is the third leading cause of death; in the age range of 5-14 years old, suicide is the fifth leading cause of death.
Depression is often associated with suicide, because severe depression can lead to people's sense of meaninglessness in life.
However, this does not mean that people suffering from depression will definitely commit suicide.
Therefore, parents should not ignore those who have suicidal thoughts or behavioral hints. Once the child talks about these, he must be cautious and ask for help from psychological counselors and other professionals if necessary.
How to help children get out of depression?
The treatment of depression is divided into drug treatment and psychological counseling intervention.
The principle of drug treatment is to change the level of emotions-related neurotransmitters in the brain through drugs; psychological counseling helps children/teens learn how to regulate emotions and cope with difficulties.
Clinically, depression is divided into severe , moderate and mild , and the diagnosis is given by a psychiatrist.
For severe depression, doctors usually recommend that "medicine must be taken first" because the patient's symptoms are serious at this time, and they need to rely on drugs to improve their physical functions and then undergo auxiliary psychological counseling after their mood is stable.
For moderate depression, doctors often recommend medication or psychological counseling based on the case situation, or a combination of the two.
Mild depression, usually you can not take medicine and adjust it through psychological counseling. But for each patient, it is still necessary to choose the most suitable treatment plan based on their own situation.
As parents, what we need to do most is to help our children seek medical treatment in a timely manner, strictly follow the doctor's instructions and take medicine, and actively cooperate with the work of psychologists/psychological counselors.
