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Teen Depression Teenage Depression Adolescent : Depressed Teenager

In contrast to depressive disorder in adults, depression in children and adolescents is a relatively new concept. Over the past 25 years, childhood depression has been reconized as distinct entiry, one that

Signs and symptoms of Teen Depression

Often, depressed teens will display a striking change in their thinking and behavior, lose their motivation, or become withdrawn. The following are the major signs of depression in adolescents.

• Sadness, anxiety, or a feeling of hopelessness
• Alcohol and Drug Abuse
• Temper, agitation
• Difficulty concentrating
• Changes in eating or sleeping patterns
• Withdrawal from friends
• Talk of or efforts to run away from home
• Bed wetting and dream terrors
• Suicidal ideations
• Hallucination and delusional thinking
• Memory loss (amnesia) episodes

Causes of Teenage, Childhood and Adolescent Depression

As in adults, the causes of childhood depression is the best understood as being mutifactor, stemming from such factors as gentic vulenrabilty and other biological aspects, temperament, adverse life events and chronic stress. A combination of predisposing and precipitating factors in a vulnerable individual can initiate psychological and biological phenomena that then culminate in depression.

In addition to those found in adult depression, causes of teen and childhood depression, or apparent triggers, include additional and often unique situations.

• Social rejection
• Family turmoil
• Failing exams

While the triggers or causes of teenage depression may not appear such major events to many adults, it is the sufferer's perception that is so important.