Helping Teens Deal With Depression

A depressing thought:  Our teens and adolescent children may be as depressed as adults are. It is possible that adults with depression didn’t just wake up one morning depressed, and that their disease may be partially due to undiagnosed depression while growing up?

Let’s look at some facts on our Teens with Depression Infographic:

According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, Among adults, “”Major Depressive Disorder is the leading cause of disability in the U.S. for ages 15 to 44.3. It affects approximately 14.8 million American adults, or about 6.7 percent of the U.S. population age 18 and older in a given year. While major depressive disorder can develop at any age, the median age at onset is 32.5.  More prevalent in women than in men.

What appears to be happening now is that as many as 15% of adolescents are also experiencing depression. Sadly, teen suicides are taking place at the rate of 1 every 100 seconds. About the time it took to read this far in this article.

Here are some of the symptoms of depression exhibited by children like yours and ours to be on the look out for:

  • Changes in appetite
  • Crankier (than normal)
  • Fun things aren’t fun to them anymore
  • Tired for no apparent reason
  • Regression and acting younger than their age
  • Difficulty sleeping through the night
  • Perpetual sadness

These are just a few of the warning signs parents should be on the lookout for. If your child does have some or several of these symptoms, consider speaking with a mental health professional. 

There is hope: 

A drug free Clinical Study underway presently using TMS Therapy (Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation) to treat adolescents. In Grand Junction, CO, Dr. Robert Sammons and Christopher Blackburn, Co-founders of TMS Solutions are part of a group of prestigious medical groups and institutions performing the FDA study .  TMS Therapy is already cleared by the FDA and indicated for the treatment of adult depression.  It is a safe and drug free alternative to the typical pharmcological methods of treating the disease, without the side effects.

Learn more about Teen and Adolescent Depression and the Clinical Study by clicking on this text link.

If you know of someone who would benefit from this treatment, contact Christopher Blackburn at 970-697-1020.

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Want to learn more…

Click here for another link for a useful guide explaining the link between addiction and anxiety.