1. Let’s Talk About Teen Depression

2. Teen Depression
Approximately 4 out of 100 teenagers get seriously depressed each year.
Everyone gets sad now and then
That’s not depression

3. What is Depression?
Depression is defined as an illness when the feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and despair persist and interfere with a person’s ability to function.
Teenage girls are at especially high risk, as are minority youth.

4. Depression Most people with depression can be helped with treatment.
Most depressed people never get the help they need.
When depression isn't treated, it can get worse, last longer, and prevent you from getting the most out of your life.

5. Signs of Depression:
When someone has five or more of these symptoms most of the time for 2 weeks or longer, that person is probably depressed:
Frequent sadness, tearfulness, crying  
Hopelessness  
Social isolation, poor communication 

6. Signs of Depression: Decreased interest in activities
Inability to enjoy previously favorite activities  
Persistent boredom; low energy 
Alcohol and drug abuse
Self-Injury

7. Signs of Depression: Poor concentration
A major change in eating and/or sleeping patterns  
Talk of or efforts to run away from home  
Thoughts or expressions of suicide or self-destructive behavior  

8. Signs of Depression: Low self esteem and guilt
Extreme sensitivity to rejection or failure   
Increased irritability, anger, or hostility
Difficulty with relationships  
Frequent complaints of physical illnesses, such as headaches and stomachaches  

9. WHEN YOU'RE DEPRESSED..
You feel sad or cry a lot and it doesn't go away. 
You feel guilty for no real reason; you feel like you're no good; you've lost your confidence. 
Life seems meaningless or like nothing good is ever going to happen again.

10. WHEN YOU'RE DEPRESSED..
You have a negative attitude a lot of the time, or it seems like you have no feelings.
You don't feel like doing a lot of the things you used to like-- like music, sports, being with friends, going out-- and you want to be left alone most of the time. 

11. WHEN YOU'RE DEPRESSED..
It's hard to make up your mind. You forget lots of things, and it's hard to concentrate.
You get irritated often. Little things make you lose your temper; you overreact.

12. WHEN YOU'RE DEPRESSED..
Your sleep pattern changes; you start sleeping a lot more or you have trouble falling asleep at night. Or you wake up really early most mornings and can't get back to sleep.
Your eating habits change; you've lost your appetite or you eat a lot more.

13. WHEN YOU'RE DEPRESSED.. You feel restless and tired most of the time.
You think about death, or feel like you're dying, or have thoughts about committing suicide

14. Why do people get depressed?
There is no single cause for depression. Factors include:
genetics
environment
medical conditions
life events
certain thinking patterns that affect a person's reaction to events.

15. Brain's response to stressful events
Death of someone close to you
Relationship problems
Low self esteem
Poverty
Homelessness
Substance abuse

16. What Happens in the Brain
chemicals neurotransmitters assist in transmitting messages between nerve cells in the brain.
Certain neurotransmitters regulate mood.
When they are not available in sufficient quantities, the result can be depression.

17. Types of Depression Major depression – short lasting and severe
Dysthymia - longer-lasting but less severe
Adjustment disorder with depressed mood (depressive reaction to a specific life event)

18. Types of Depression
Bipolar disorder (also sometimes called manic depressive illness) involves periods of major depression mixed with periods of mania.
Mania is the term for abnormally high mood and extreme bursts of unusual activity or energy.

19. Treatment for Depression
Having depression doesn't mean that a person is weak, or a failure, or isn't really trying... it means they need TREATMENT.
Most people with depression can be helped with COUNSELING, provided by a professional psychologist

20. COUNSELING
Means talking about feelings with a trained psychologist who can help you change the relationships, thoughts, or behaviors that are causing the depression
When you're depressed, you're in a rut, and you can't see anything good.

21. MEDICINE Used to treat depression that is severe or disabling.
Antidepressant medications are not "uppers" and are not addictive.
Medication might be necessary, in addition to counseling.
Most often, counseling alone is sufficient.

22.   YOU ARE NOT ALONE!
With treatment, most depressed people start to feel better in just a few weeks.
There's help out there

23. Myths about depression
MYTH: It's normal for teenagers to be moody; Teens don't suffer from "real" depression. 
FACT: Depression is more than just being moody. And it can affect people at any age, including teenagers

24. Myths about depression
MYTH: Telling an adult that a friend might be depressed is betraying a trust. If someone wants help, he or she will get it.

25. Myths about depression
FACT: Depression, which saps energy and self-esteem, interferes with a person's ability or wish to get help. It is an act of true friendship to share your concerns with an adult who can help. No matter what you "promised" to keep secret, your friend's life is more important than a promise.

26. Myths About Depression
MYTH: Talking about depression only makes it worse. 
FACT: Talking about your feelings to someone who can help, like a  psychologist, is the first step towards beating depression.

27. Myths About Depression
Talking to a close friend can also provide you with the support and encouragement you need
Talk to your parents or school counselor about getting evaluated for depression.

28. The Link Between Depression and Suicide
Majority of suicide attempts and suicide deaths happen among teens with depression
About 1% of all teens attempts suicide and about 1% of those suicide attempts results in death (that means about 1 in 10,000 teens dies from suicide)

29. The Link Between Depression and Suicide
For adolescents who have depressive illnesses, the rates of suicidal thinking and behavior are much higher.
Most teens who have depression think about suicide, and between 15% and 30% of teens with serious depression who think about suicide go on to make a suicide attempt.

30. The Link: Depression and Suicide
It's not hard to see why serious depression and suicide are connected.
Serious depression (with both major depression and bipolar illness) involves a long-lasting sad mood that doesn't let up

31. The Link: Depression and Suicide
Depression also distorts a person's viewpoint
They focus only on their failures and disappointments
Exaggerate these negative things.
Depressed thinking can convince someone there is nothing to live for.

32. The Link: Depression and Suicide
Loss of pleasure in things you once enjoyed.
Involves thoughts about death
Negative thoughts about oneself
A sense of worthlessness

33. The Link: Depression and Suicide
A sense of hopelessness
Low energy
Noticeable changes in appetite or sleep.

34. The Link: Depression and Suicide
The hopelessness can make it seem like there will be nothing good in the future

35. The Link: Depression and Suicide
Helplessness can make it seem like there's nothing you can do to change things for the better.
And the low energy that is part of depression can make every problem (even small ones) seem like too much to handle.

36. What Else Puts Teens at Risk for Suicide?
Teens with conduct disorder are at higher risk
Teens with conduct disorder have problems with aggression and may be more likely than other teens to act in aggressive or impulsive ways to hurt themselves when they are depressed or under great stress

37. What Else Puts Teens at Risk for Suicide?
Substance abuse problems also put teens at risk for suicidal thinking and behavior

38. What Else Puts Teens at Risk for Suicide?
Alcohol and some drugs have depressive effects on the brain.
Misuse of these substances can bring on serious depression, especially in teens prone to depression because of their biology, family history, or other life stressors.

39. What Else Puts Teens at Risk for Suicide?
Alcohol and drugs alter a person's judgement
Interfere with the ability to assess risk make good choices, and think of solutions to problems.

40. What Else Puts Teens at Risk for Suicide?
Many suicide attempts occur when a teen is under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Teens with substance abuse problems often have serious depression or intense life stresses, too, further increasing their risk.

41. What Else Puts Teens at Risk for Suicide?
Social, academic, and personal pressures such as:
Physical or sexual abuse
Witness one parent abusing another at home
Lots of arguing and conflict at home.
Violence in their neighborhood

42. What Else Puts Teens at Risk for Suicide?
Parent with a drug or alcohol addiction
Struggles with concerns about sexuality and relationships

43. What Else Puts Teens at Risk for Suicide?
Body image and eating problems
Learning problems or attention problems that make it hard for them to succeed in school
A recent loss or crisis

44. Types of Suicidal Behaviours
Teen girls attempt suicide far more often (about nine times more often) than teen guys
Guys are about four times more likely to succeed when they try to kill themselves.
Teen guys tend to use more deadly methods, like guns or hanging.

45. Types of Suicidal Behaviours
Girls who try to hurt or kill themselves tend to use overdoses of medications or cutting.
More than 60% of teen suicide deaths happen with a gun.
Suicide deaths can and do occur with pills and other harmful substances and methods.

46. Types of Suicidal Behaviours
Sometimes a depressed person plans a suicide in advance.

47. Types of Suicidal Behaviours
Many times, though, suicide attempts are not planned in advance, but happen impulsively, in a moment of feeling desperately upset.
Suicide attempts can occur under conditions like the following because some teens - at least for the moment - see no other way out:

48. Types of Suicidal Behaviours
Situations like:
a breakup,
a big fight with a parent
an unintended pregnancy,
being harmed by abuse or rape
being outed by someone else
being victimized in any way can cause a teen to feel desperately upset.

49. Types of Suicidal Behaviours
Sometimes teens who feel or act suicidal mean to die and sometimes they don't.
Sometimes a suicide attempt is a way to express the deep emotional pain
Hope that someone will get the message they are trying to communicate.

50. Types of Suicidal Behaviours
Teens who attempt suicide as an answer to problems tend to try it more than once
Suicide attempts are highest during middle adolescence

51. Types of Suicidal Behaviours
By 17 or 18, the rate of teen suicide attempts lowers dramatically
With maturity, teens learn to tolerate sad or upset moods, learn how to get support, develop better coping skills to deal with disappointment or other difficulties.

52. Warning Signs - What to Look For
Pulling away from friends or family and losing desire to go out
Trouble concentrating or thinking clearly
Changes in eating or sleeping habits

53. Warning Signs - What to Look For
Major changes in appearance (for example, if a normally neat person looks very sloppy - as if they're not taking the usual care of themselves )
Talk about feeling hopeless or feeling guilty
Talk about suicide

54. Warning Signs - What to Look For
Talk about death
Talk about "going away"
Self-destructive behavior (drinking alcohol, taking drugs, or driving too fast, for example)

55. Warning Signs - What to Look For
No desire to take part in favorite things or activities
Giving away of favorite possessions
Very happy and cheerful moods after being depressed or sad for a long time (this may mean that a person has decided to attempt suicide and feels relieved to have found a "solution")

56. Getting Help
If you have a friend or classmate who you think is considering suicide, get help right away rather than waiting to see if he will feel better.

57. Getting Help
Even if your friend or classmate swears you to secrecy, you must get help as soon as possible - your friend's life could depend on it.
A person who is seriously thinking about suicide is depressed - and isn't able to see that suicide is never the answer to his problems.

58. Getting Help
Suicide isn't the answer - it's a permanent solution to a temporary problem.