Depression among Australian Teenagers

This article explores the occurrence and impact of depression among Australian teenagers. It discusses the risk factors, early intervention, and the role of social support systems in managing depression. The article also highlights the importance of recognizing early warning signs and symptoms and provides insights into the socio-environmental approach to intervention.

Running head: DEPRESSION
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Depression
Institution
Student
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Community Health and Disease Prevention
Depression among the Australia Teenagers
Depression is such a significant health issue across all Australian age groups and experiences of
this disorder can have weighty impacts on the health of teenagers. The occurrence of plausible
serious mental illness amongst Australian young people has continued to increase every year. It
has also been noted that the burden of possible serious cases of depression are borne more
seriously by young females than young males. Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal teenagers
are also more probable to meet the criteria for a likely severe depression than their non-
Indigenous counterparts. According to Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, (2007), 1 in 4
adolescents are living with a depression and 9% of teenagers (aged between16-24) undergo very
high levels of mental distresses. Individuals aged 18-24 years experience the highest
pervasiveness of depressions of any other age group and adolescence suicide is the principal
cause of deaths among youth aged 15-24. Start of depression among the Australian teenagers is
characteristically around mid-to-late teenage years and it is significant to recognize the early
forewarning signs and symptoms. Early intervention normally prevents the development of a
severe depressive sickness (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2007).
The Australian teenagers are at the highest risk of depressions owing to profound vulnerability
and exposure to unfavorable economic, social, and environmental circumstances, interrelated
with gender. Disadvantage among this subgroup begins at birth and accumulates all through life.
Risk factors for various common mental problems especially depression are greatly associated
with social inequalities, wherein the bigger the social inequality the greater the inequality in risk.
Every person has right to proper mental health and wellbeing and thus it is paramount that

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actions are taken to enhance the teens’ conditions of daily life. In order to ensure proper
intervention, interpersonal models of depression can be applied. Interpersonal models of
depression have acquired noteworthy attention since social relations support the teenagers during
moments of distress. A number of researchers have endeavored to give details concerning
pathways to depression wherein social communication efforts forecast the chronology and
etiology of depression (that is interpersonal models) (Thapar, Collishaw, Pine, & Thapar, 2012).
Figure1: Theoretical framework between quality of relationships, coping strategies,
loneliness, and depression
Source: Ara, E. M., Talepasand, S., & Rezaei, A. M. (2017). A structural model of depression
based on interpersonal relationships: The mediating role of coping strategies and
loneliness. Archives of Neuropsychiatry, 54(2), 125.

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Australian teenagers suffering from depression can inadvertently overturn the positive impact of
social support. Such incidence is a key line of depression research which has given way to an
interpersonal model of handling depression. Interactional theory of depression was amongst the
first to recommend the idea that interpersonal behaviors affect people’s emotional health. For
instance, a majority of the young people report feeling more distressed after a phone dialogue
with a distressed person. One reason behind this particular research outcome might be that social
supports develop negative affects towards depressed people from having to extremely give
reassurance and, consequently, reject the distressed person. As a result, rejection disseminates
depressive signs and symptoms in the distressed person and carries on the cycle of depression.
Psychiatric Australian adolescence patients with symptoms of depression, who tremendously
search for reassurance, report more interpersonal rejections than their counterparts. In order to
assess those who extremely search for reassurance inadvertently generate interpersonal negative
life occurrences and undergo rejection by social supports who emerge aggravated from being
requested to give reassurance exceedingly. A seek for self-esteem arbitrates the relations
between interpersonal trauma and consequent Excessive Reassurance Seeking (ERS) behaviors
suggesting that youths might look for reassurance more frequently when they are not sure of the
way their peers feel about them. Excessive Reassurance Seeking and interpersonal constant
worries lead to increased depressive symptoms among the youth (Starr, 2015).
Presence of social support systems can benefit Australian youths suffering from stress and
depression. Social support is generally described as the experience and discernment of being
loved and valued by other people as well as the feeling of having a sense of belonging to a bigger
social network. Social support systems can be beneficial intervention approach since they
provide positive social interactions, feedback, tangible goods (for example, funds), shared labor,

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advice, and intimacy. Apparently, a lack of ample social supports hurt a person’s mental health.
Low level of social supports is associated with increased levels of depression. Introverted
university student who lacks social support displays increase in depressive symptoms and as
such social support systems are an essential component of mental wellbeing of teenagers in
Australia (Camara, Bacigalupe, & Padilla, 2014).
Figure 2: Conceptual framework for depression showing stress is hypothesized to be
positively associated with depression, while social support and self-esteem are hypothesized
to be negatively associated with depression.
Source: Ratanasiripong, P. (2012). Mental health of Muslim nursing students in Thailand. ISRN
nursing, 2012.

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Two leading models elucidate the connection between social support systems and mental
wellbeing: the buffering hypothesis and the direct effects hypothesis. The buffering hypothesis
forecasts that social support systems act as defensive buffers from the unfavorable impacts of
nerve-racking life occurrences. This implies that Australian teenagers can feel be less stressed
and healthier whenever they observe a profusion of social supports that are receptive to the
individual’s needs, since social support systems have a buffering impact against the effects of
nervous tensions. On the other hand, the direct effects hypothesis forecasts that social supports
are in general helpful, even in the absence of depression. Teenagers with more social supports
are in better health than their peers who have less social supports, hence lending evidence to the
direct effects hypothesis. Incorporation into big social networks might improve mental
healthiness of our youths because they give steadiness in an individual’s life, recognition of self-
worth, positive effect, and safety from financial bourdon. Similarly, larger supports from family
members and friends are associated with increased emotional health (Mezuk, Roux, & Seeman,
2010 ).
A socio-environmental approach can also be is integrated in the intervention process. The socio-
environmental approach to human health concerning depression necessitates an unremitting and
appealing procedure in the structuring and assessment of care and prevention policies as a way of
comprehending and controlling the social and environmental situations that influence teenagers’
mental health. Researches indicate that there is a strong correlation between having Social
Anxiety Disorder (SAD) and suffering from depressions later in life. The general form of social
anxiety disorder is as well linked to an increased co-occurrence with key panic disorder, post-
traumatic stress disorder, alcohol use disorders, and depressive disorder among others (National
Collaborating Centre for Mental Health (Great Britain), 2013). Artificial chemicals such as food

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additives and drugs, preservatives, hormones, pesticides, and, Genetically Modified Foods
(GMFs), and industrial products often bombard our youths’ bodies. In this intervention, we use
the terminology "environmental causes" to depict environmental contributions to depressive
disorders. Various catastrophic environmental events such as electrical pollution, noise pollution,
and natural disasters all together cause depression among the youth and thus it is vital to abate
their prevalence.
Depression is normally what leads most of the teenagers in Australia to look for help, though
social anxiety disorders might be the causal challenge. Typically, young people who have
depressions will not speak to any person concerning the health challenges that they encounter
and usually do not figure out that they have a treatable sickness. Consequently, most of the
teenagers with social anxiety disorders do not habitually undergo treatment unless the problem
takes place together with another condition. Proper mechanisms should be put into place to deal
with social anxiety and depression including training young people on how to handle it. Besides,
professionals can take initiative and explain to the victims on the importance of seeking for
medical treatments recommended for depression such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and
selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). What is more, environmental causes of
depression of depression are partially under people’s control. Young people, however, should be
encouraged to participate in healthy lifestyle practices in order to overcome depressive episodes.
Some of the positive lifestyle factors which can protect teenagers from depressive episodes
include avoiding drug abuse, working to normal limits, balanced diet, regular exercises, enough
sleep, and taking part in leisure activities (Niedzwiecki, Pepper, Proctor, & J Shiland, 2018).
Depression is a serious and common medical disorder which unconstructively impacts they
people think, the way they feel and the way they act. Fortunately, it is as well a treatable

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condition. Depression leads to feelings of unhappiness and a loss of concentration in activities
that an individual once enjoyed. This disorder leads to a range of physical and emotional
challenges and may reduce an individual’s capability to function at home and at work. A socio-
ecological model of intervening against depression can be applied to abate the risks of this
mental disorder in the select-subgroup of youths. Social support, for example would help
teenagers feel a sense of belonging, loved, and respected and so, circumvent avoid the common
feeling of rejection. It has also been noted that some adverse environmental incidences lead to
depression and even though these factors are above the control of people, young people can be
trained and encouraged how to adopt proper measures to avoid depression.

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References
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2007). Depression in teenagers. Retrieved from
healthdirect: https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/depression-in-teenagers
Camara, M., Bacigalupe, G., & Padilla, P. (2014). The role of social support in adolescents: are
you helping me or stressing me out? International Journal of Adolescence and Youth ,
123-136 .
Mezuk, B., Roux, D., & Seeman, T. (2010 ). Evaluating the buffering vs. direct effects
hypotheses of emotional social support on inflammatory markers: The Multi-Ethnic
Study of Atherosclerosis. National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National
Library of Medicine, 1294–1300.
National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health (Great Britain). (2013). Social anxiety
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Niedzwiecki, B., Pepper, J., Proctor, D., & J Shiland, B. (2018). Kinn's Medical Assisting
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Starr, L. R. (2015). When Support Seeking Backfires: Co-Rumination, Excessive Reassurance
Seeking, and Depressed Mood in the Daily Lives of Young Adults. National Center for
Biotechnology Information, 436–457. doi:10.1521/jscp.2015.34.5.436

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Thapar, A., Collishaw, S., Pine, D., & Thapar, A. (2012). Depression in adolescence. National
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