Mental Health Notes: Assessing the Cause Behind Depression Amongst Teens

As a teen, it can be easy to experience feeling down or not feeling motivated enough to do anything. Adolescence can be an unsettling time where emotional, social and physical changes are often influenced by sources outside of your control.

Depression Causes And Symptoms

According to recent surveys by Mental Health America, adolescent depression is continuing to increase at an alarming rate and there has been an indication that as many as one in five teens tend to suffer from clinical depression. This can be a serious problem that calls for immediate and appropriate treatment.

However, it can be difficult to diagnose depression in teens as many adults expect teens to have mood swings from time to time, making them unable to understand the problem at hand. This also makes it difficult for teens to express their feelings to others in fear of not being understood or not having their feelings validated. However, there are a few depression symptoms that you should be on the lookout for:

• Poor school performance
• Overreaction to criticism
• Forgetfulness or lack of concentration
• Substance abuse
• Lack of energy or motivation
• Suicidal thoughts or actions

There is no specific reason why teens get depressed. In reality, there are a number of reasons why teens experience depression and a few examples include feelings of unworthiness when getting bad grades. Social status, sexual orientation, relationship with family and friend, among others, are also major contributing factors behind why most teens feel depressed nowadays. But whatever the case, if a teen does not enjoy doing what they love or spending time close with loved ones then there is a good chance they are dealing with depression – and you need to be there to help them cope with these unsettling emotions.

Fortunately, there are a few reliable and professional spaces where you can reach out and seek assistance in this matter.

Consider the work of Westside Behavioral Care, a revered full-service mental health practice platform that is determined to serve children, adolescents, couples, and families. They have been known by their clients to provide the best outpatient counseling, psychotherapy, and mental health services across the greater Denver metropolitan area.

The company was founded in 1998 by clinical psychologist Thomas R. Giles and for years now has provided their patients with licensed therapists, clinical social workers, psychologists and professional counselors who have had their backgrounds and performance standards checked before being hired by the company. At the moment, there are a total of 200 licensed therapists affiliated with the company.

Moreover, Westside Behavioral Care has also been known for providing better access to mental health care by allowing their patients to schedule appointments in minimum time through their webpage and discuss in detail regarding major insurance plans. Another wonderful service provided by the company includes the great lengths they go to when taking into consideration matching people with therapists through video conferencing software based on an individual’s needs for either face-to-face or online therapy sessions.