A Generation at Risk

“Until two months ago, I was happy and active. Now every time I get a chance to do something, I’m too tired to. I’m feeling miserable and my temper is so short, I don’t know how anyone can stand me. It’s hard to say why I feel so bad all of a sudden.”—Paul.

“I cry and hurt inside a lot. When I’m not hurting, I just feel dead. I don’t enjoy anything. I don’t like being with my friends anymore. I sleep a lot. Most days I can’t get up to go to school and my grades have gone way down.”—Melanie.

PAUL and Melanie are not alone. Studies indicate that approximately 8 percent of the adolescent population in the United States are suffering from some form of depression and that each year about 4 percent become seriously depressed. But these statistics do not tell the whole story, for depression is often misdiagnosed or completely overlooked. “In fact,” writes adolescent psychologist David G. Fassler, “after reviewing the research conducted with children and teenagers, I believe that over one in four youngsters will experience a serious episode of depression by the time they reach their eighteenth birthday.”

 Devastating Effects

Depression has devastating effects on teens. Indeed, experts believe that it plays a significant role in adolescent eating disorders, psychosomatic illnesses, difficulties at school, and instances of substance abuse.

More tragically, depression has been linked to teen suicide. According to the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health, as many as 7 percent of severely depressed youngsters take their life. * Even this does not reveal the full scope of the problem, since it is believed that for every youth who takes his or her life, many more attempt to do so. It is thus for good reason that a report by the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development states: “To treat adolescent problems lightly today is to court disaster. Such neglect truly places a generation at risk.”

A Carefree Life?

Some find it hard to believe that teenagers can actually be depressed. ‘They’re just kids,’ adults may reason. ‘They lead a carefree life, and they certainly don’t have the anxieties of adults.’ Or do they? The fact is that adolescents face pressures that are far more intense than many adults realize. Dr. Daniel Goleman states: “Each successive generation worldwide since the opening of the [20th] century has lived with a higher risk than their parents of suffering a major depression—not just sadness, but a paralyzing listlessness, dejection, and self-pity, and an overwhelming hopelessness—over the course of life. And those episodes are beginning at earlier and earlier ages.”

Still, many parents might object: ‘We made it through adolescence without becoming depressed. Why is our child overwhelmed with negative feelings?’ But adults should not compare their adolescent experience with that of youths today. After all, individuals differ in the way they perceive the world around them and in how they react to it.

Besides, today’s teens face an added challenge. “They’re growing up in a world quite different from that of their parents’ youth,” writes Dr. Kathleen McCoy in her book Understanding Your Teenager’s Depression. After citing a number of significant changes that have taken place in recent decades, Dr. McCoy concludes: “Teens today feel less safe, less empowered and less hopeful than we did a generation ago.”

In view of the prevalence of depression among teens, the following articles will address three questions:

• What are some symptoms of teen depression?

• What causes the condition?

• How can depressed teens be helped?

[Footnote]