B. Daley Resources

Daley, B. (1999, October 11). Educators screen teens for signs of depression. The Boston Globe. pp. B1, B4.

OVERVIEW

We know depression is widespread among teenagers and young people from their suicide rates. Not all depression leads to suicide, of course, nor are all suicides due to depression. People may spend a lifetime in depression without killing themselves, and there are impulsive, angry, and romantic suicides.

Suicide is the third-leading cause of death among 15 to 24-year-olds in the U.S., the fifth-leading cause of death among 10- to 24-year-olds, and these figures have more than doubled for both age groups since 1950. Better reporting may explain some—but certainly not all—of this increase.

In October of 1999, Holliston High School became one of 15 high schools nationally to screen all its students for signs of depression. It was part of National Depression Screening Day. A difficulty in screening teenage depression is our inability to determine the difference between real depression and the emotional lows typical of teenage mood-swings. Questions on the instrument used included; "Do you feel everything you do is wrong?"

Senior Rebecca Healy, 17, offered insights from her perspective:

‘A lot of teens are upset and some are clinically depressed, but it can be hard to tell between the two. A lot of teenagers hide depression. There is a stigma attached to it, because if you are clinically depressed, you see a psychiatrist, and then you might be crazy. It’s very sad. That’s why they feel so lonely.’

The exact nature of childhood sadness and teenage blues is the issue here. Douglas G. Jacobs, a Harvard psychiatrist who founded the National Depression Screening Day, understands that although " ‘teenage angst can be related to a specific event, depression lingers whether times are good or bad.’ "

The blues have one symptom and depression has multiple symptoms. Depression doesn’t go away.

According to Carol Glod, a researcher at McLean Hospital and associate professor at Northeastern University:

‘We know children can be depressed. But we need to figure out how teenage depression is different from adult depression. Right now we’re using the same criteria_But how is it unique to adolescence?’

For a variety of reasons, twenty parents of 1,100 students at Holliston chose to keep their children from the survey. But Karen Bresnahan, parent of a senior, was enthusiastic about this screening:

‘I believe children can be depressed. As parents, we do everything and anything to help our kids. It’s wonderful the schools care, too.’

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

IMPLICATIONS

• How serious do you consider the problems of depression and suicide to be?
• Do you see suicide as the other side of homicide in terms of symptoms or expressions of adolescent angst and rage?
• Do you have any thoughts as to the difference between adult and youthful depression?
• How would you determine the difference between someone who has the blues and someone who is clinically depressed? What constitutes a genuine cause of alarm and need for intervention?
• What do you think of a National Depression Screening Day?

1. Family, friends, and adults relating to teenagers need to be aware of this problem and prepared to intervene appropriately.
2. Interventions appropriate for someone chronically down in the dumps and someone clinically depressed are different as are the style of interventions by family members, friends, teachers, counselors, and youth workers.
3. Families, schools, churches (temples or synagogues), the media and community clinics, need to find effective ways in which to work together.