Parents concerned about their child’s mental health should seek professional help sooner rather than later. According to recent studies, as kids advance in age from 12 to 17, those identified as having depression grew increasingly worse as they got older.

More than 2 million U.S. teenagers have suffered a serious bout of depression in the past year, including nearly 13 percent of girls.

On average, 8.5 percent of adolescents aged 12 to 17 described having had a major depressive episode in the previous year, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reported, but there were striking differences by gender, with 12.7 percent of girls and 4.6 percent of boys affected.

Depression is the leading cause of suicide, which in turn is the third-leading cause of death for 15- to 24-year-olds in the United States. These unfortunate facts need to change. Depression is very treatable! No one should suffer so needlessly. with appropriate mental health care, they can feel well and thrive.

More than 67,700 youths aged 12 to 17 answered questions about mood and depression. They were also asked to rate how depression affected them using the Sheehan Disability Scale, which measures impact on family, friends, chores at home, work and school.

They defined a major depressive episode as two weeks or longer of depressed mood or loss of interest or pleasure, and at least four other symptoms such as problems with sleep, energy, concentration or self-image.

Nearly half of the teenagers who had major depression said it severely impaired their ability to function in at least one of the areas on the disability scale.

The worst cases were unable to carry out normal activities for an average of 58 days in the past year.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 22nd, 2008 at 11:46 am and is filed under Depression, In The News, Mental Health, New Research, Parenting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.