Are teens more prone to depression these days

[vshah140113]

I've noticed that levels of depression and self harm are quite high in teens these days.
Teens also discuss self harm quite casually between themselves. Is it just me or are our children finding it hard to cope these days compared to 20 years ago?
As a mum of 4 I find it scary knowing these issues are definitely going to happen to one of my children.
Any constructive feedback is appreciated
Also any good counselling services available online anyone can recommend?

[corythatwas]

being able to discuss it means being able to access help; it means developing the attitude that something can be dealt with

in our case, dd is the first to have been treated for a hereditary tendency that has been around in every generation at least since my grandfather's day, but which was too much of a stigma for people to talk about

so she will be the first to appear in any statistics- but also the first where the whole burden does not have to be carried by family members

speaking as a family member, I do not see this as a wholly negative development...

also, I was a child in the 70s: at least 3 girls in my class developed anorexia in the same year; one other girl I knew well spent her 20s in and out of hospital with anorexia

to me, that is by far the scariest type of self-harming and the one that takes the longest to cure

anyway, how do you know these issues are definitely going to happen to your children, unless they already have happened?

[vshah140113]

Oldest dd 14 has been put on the list for a school counsellor, she has extremely low confidence anxiety problems and was self harming last year. She told me a lot of her friends are suffering from anxiety and depression and I'm glad it's more in the open as a problem but I feel imo that this problem is very common now

[corythatwas]

Do you know that it wasn't common in the past? It certainly seems to me as if it was, looking back on my own childhood.

And with my professional historian's head on, it is also something I find in accounts of the past, though there it goes under different names: demoniac obsession, melancholia, temptation from the devil.

[misshelena]

I think teenage angst is more heightened today because of social media. There is no break from the pressures teens face. You can't really take away their access because that is how they communicate these days, both for socializing and for school work. Back when we were growing up, you can take a break from the social drama when you are home. Teens today don't get that break. You can say that they can just stop going on social media, but how many teens can really resist such temptation? I do feel bad for them.
And yes, they do talk about depression much more openly these day. And that's good. A few months ago I gave a short 10 min ride to DD16 and her friend who I know but not well. Just within those 10 minutes, he told me that he's had trouble sleeping for a while and has recently started on antidepressant.

[TheHoldings]

I feel that kids are under the microscope 24/7. The constant assessment at school, the targets, the levels, never feeling they have achieved enough because there's always another way to improve and they are acutely aware of this. Even in after school activities they kids don't escape levels and grades. And then through social media they are constantly bombarded with the "perfect image", assessing their looks, their teeth their kin their hair their body fat, their muscles, their height.
I'm not surprised that teens feel under enormous pressure to make the grade in every aspect of their life and can't cope when they don't - there's nowhere to hide.
My advice to start with make time to chat with your kids every day....evening meal is the perfect time away from social media, tv etc. No pressure, info will come from them when they're ready.

[Waitingfordolly]

I also agree that social media isn't helpful, my DD is definitely spending a lot of time doing that and less time doing the things that I would have done at that age to escape from it all, reading books or music. On the other hand there is also a lot more awareness. I self harmed from a young age, as far back as I can remember, but I never met someone else that did until I was 21 or 22 as it just wasn't discussed. I was taken to the doctors when I was young about it (my parents didn't realise I was injuring myself) but then it was never mentioned again even though I was still doing it.

[vdbfamily]

My 13 year old overdosed on pills last week, she told me straight away and we went to hospital and she was fine. She said that she has so many unhappy friends she could no longer bear the thoughtof going to bed not knowing if they would still be alive the next day. The day she took the pills her best friend had said she had tried to hang herself the night before but failed. Once discharged from hospital next morning, she insisted on returning to school 'to check friend is ok' and she told me when she got home that her 2 best friends , when they saw her ,had thrown themselves at her hysterically saying they were convinced she was dead and had made a suicide pact for after school if she had been dead. It is unbelieveably messed up. She says that literally all her friends are cutting themselves and I discovered at the hospital that she had been too. Thechildrens hospital said they employ a fulltime counsellor as they have overdoses and serious self harm cases daily now.

[vshah140113]

Omg vdbfamily hope she's ok
Hope she gets the help she needs

[GeorgeTheHamster]

My nearly eighteen year old is depressed. It's very hard to know what to do for the best. It stops him working, which is really incredibly hard to watch as he has an offer from Oxbridge, his heart's desire, and at this rate there is no way he will be taking it up having done so so well to get it. It also makes him very hard to live with. It doesn't stop him going out with his girlfriend though, she also has MH issues. Sigh.