Adolescent Major Depression – Some 2 Million Experienced It in 2011
Adolescent major depression is often masked or minimized, yet the consequences of it going untreated can be devastating.
The opening sentence from Melissa Healy’s April 29, 2011 Los Angeles Times article, “Depressed Teens Mostly Struggle Alone,” reads:
Some 2 million Americans adolescents experienced a bout of major depression last year, but only about a third of them got any help in dealing with the sadness, irritability, anxiety, guilt and loss of interest and energy that are the hallmarks of such episodes, a report says. [Read the remainder of the article…]
Given a significant number of people who suffer from a mental illness turn to substances to help self-medicate the mental illness [Note: This ‘feels’ like it works because the substance targets the dopamine neural networks in the Limbic System. Dopamine is our “feel good” neurotransmitter and the key to the brain’s pleasure/reward neural pathways.] and that mental illness is one of the key risk factors for developing a drug addiction/alcoholism, reading all of the research and resources cited in this article is important. But, I’d like to draw your attention to one online resource in particular: TeenScreen Schools and Communities.
This online resource was designed by the National Center for Mental Health Checkups at Columbia University to help health professionals, school administrators, educators and concerned community members bring mental health checkups to local schools and community-based programs that serve youth. Check it out and learn more about:
Why is adolescent mental health screening important?
How can students benefit from mental health screening?
What do the leading national medical and public health organizations say about adolescent mental health screening?
Evidence-based Ratings for the TeenScreen Schools & Communities Program reviewed by national experts
TeenScreen Schools & Communities: Frequently Asked Questions
What do school administrators need to know about TeenScreen?
What do parents need to know about TeenScreen?
TeenScreen Schools & Communities: Screening Questionnaires
Teen Mental Health: How Does Your State Fare?
Lisa Frederiksen
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