PBL202 Module 3.1: Depression in Youth: Presentation and Analysis

This presentation examines the critical issue of depression in youth, providing a comprehensive overview of its causes, symptoms, and potential interventions. It begins by defining mental health and the increasing prevalence of depression among young people, supported by statistical data and case studies illustrating the impact of the disorder. The presentation explores various factors contributing to depression in youth, including family history, stressful events, social isolation, and learning difficulties. It details the common symptoms of depression, differentiating between the manifestations in older and younger populations. Furthermore, it highlights the various treatment options available, such as medication, psychotherapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and interpersonal therapy. The presentation concludes with a call to action, emphasizing the need for increased awareness and proactive measures from educational institutions and families to identify and address the problem effectively. The presentation references several studies and articles to support the information provided.

N A M E O F T H E S T U D E N T
N A M E O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y
Depression in Youth

Introduction
Mental health includes the emotional, psychological
and social well-being that impacts on the thinking
pattern, feelings, behavior and attitude. Mental
health is a equally crucial as physical health
irrespective of age, gender and any other social and
biological divisions. With the changes in lifestyle,
stress and other socio-psychological factors the
mental health of teenagers and young population is
in very dangerous situation and even deteriorating
day by day. The purpose of this presentation is
discussing the current situation of youth in terms of
depression. For this the presentation presents the
statistical factors, case studies and present
interventions for improving mental health situation.

Depression in youth
Depression or in other words major depressive
disorder is a medical illness that interferes with
the mental state, mood, attitude, perception
and regular activities such as sleeping, eating,
working and learning. Depression can happen
at any age, however often the symptoms begin
with the early 20s or 30s (Hetrick et al., 2015).
In many cases the symptoms have been found
before 20 as well. Surprisingly the increasing
numbers of youth who belong to under the age
group of 15 to 30 are suffering from depression
and general anxiety disorder. It also cause
suicidal thoughts and even suicidal tendency in
patients.

Statistics 1
Around 1 in 35 young
population who are 4 to
7 years old experience
depressive disorder
Each year, almost 5,000
young people, ages 15 to
24, kill themselves
(Cheek et al., 2014).
Source: Healthdirect.gov.au., 2018

Statistics 2
Source: Healthdirect.gov.au., 2018

Causes of Depression in youth
The exact cause of depression is unknown, however it has been found the
teenager with more sensitive attitude and anxious tendency have more
prevalence to develop depression. Several social and environmental factors
often cause the depression in youth. The major findings are:
A family history of depression
Stressful events or trauma can lead to depression later in life
Break-up of parents, or loss of a loved one
Social isolation, i.e., having no friends or family that they feel connected to
Learning difficulties
Relationship break-ups or problems with friends
Certain medications can cause depression in some people

Symptoms
Symptoms of depression usually develop over few days or weeks. Sometimes, period of
anxious state or mild depression can say over more than 1 month. Depression in older
youth can switch sadness mood, however in case of younger population it can cause
agitation, social withdrawing and others (Healthdirect.gov.au., 2018). The major
symptoms of depression in younger people are:
Irritation and mood change
Persistent sad, low and depressed mood
Loss of interest in regular activities
Change in sleeping cycles and hours
Decreased energy and fatigue
Slow physical movement
Thought of hopelessness and death
Withdrawing from contact with others

Case studies 1
A15 years old girl named Puerto Rican was
living with her parents and younger siblings
and was suffering from serious depressive
disorder (Jimenez Chafey, Bernal & Rosselló,
2009). Her mother reported that she was
becoming irritated at everything, losing
interest from any regular activities and many
other symptoms (Lee ey al., 2017). From
patient history analysis it has been found that
she had experienced bulling in her early
childhood. Doctors took prescribed medicine,
clinical counseling and several alternative
therapies to improve her situation.

Case studies 2
Due to his stuttering, a 13-year-old child
was linked to voice treatment. It found out
that he had severe emotional problems in
the late era during his diagnostic
process(Lajos, 2012).
Often, without any reason, he was moody a
nd sad. A has always been irritable and has
withdrawn from social situations. He lost i
nterest in school at the time and thought a
bout suicide (Ebert et al., 2015). After
taking repeated interview with his mother
and grandparents as well as other relatives
it was found that he had a traumatic
experience of breaking-up parents.
For him it was a traumatic experience beca
use for a long time he was too young to be
separated from his mother.

Possible interventions
There are many medication and non-medication therapies are available to treat
the depressive disorders. Depending on the severity of the condition the
treatment choices also differ. These are some of the most common
interventions in case of depressive disorders in youth:
Medication relieves some depression symptoms and is often recommended i
n conjunction with therapy.
Psychotherapy provides an chance for adolescents to investigate unpleasant
or disturbing occurrences and emotions. They are also taught coping abilitie
s by psychotherapy.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy helps teens change negative patterns of
thinking and behaving.
Interpersonal therapy focuses on how healthier relations at house and at sc
hool can be developed.

Conclusion
From the above discussion it can be clearly seen,
that it is the time to take some initiations so that
the awareness could be spread across the people
irrespective of demographical or economical
background. Promotional program can be very
helpful in this case. From authorities of educational
institutes to family members it is the responsibility
to pay attention on behavior of teenagers so that
the problem can be identified easily.

References
Cheek, C., Bridgman, H., Fleming, T., Cummings, E., Ellis, L., Lucassen, M. F., ... & Skinner, T. (2014). Views of young people in
rural Australia on SPARX, a fantasy world developed for New Zealand youth with depression. JMIR Serious Games, 2(1), e3.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25659116
Ebert, D. D., Zarski, A. C., Christensen, H., Stikkelbroek, Y., Cuijpers, P., Berking, M., & Riper, H. (2015). Internet and computer-
based cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety and depression in youth: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled outcome
trials. PloS one, 10(3), e0119895. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25786025
Healthdirect.gov.au. (2018). Depression in teenagers. Retrieved from https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/depression-in-teenagers
Hetrick, S. E., Cox, G. R., Fisher, C. A., Bhar, S. S., Rice, S. M., Davey, C. G., & Parker, A. G. (2015). Back to basics: could
behavioural therapy be a good treatment option for youth depression? A critical review. Early intervention in psychiatry, 9(2),
93-99. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24698212
Jimenez Chafey, M. I., Bernal, G., & Rosselló, J. (2009). Clinical case study: CBT for depression in a Puerto Rican adolescent:
Challenges and variability in treatment response. Depression and anxiety, 26(1), 98-103. retrived from:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18781640
Lajos, P. (2012). Case Study of 13-year-old Boy Suffering from Depression and Stuttering. Logopedia Silesiana, (1), 19-29. Retrived
from: http://bazhum.muzhp.pl/media//files/Logopedia_Silesiana/Logopedia_Silesiana-r2012-t1/Logopedia_Silesiana-r2012-t1-s19-
29/Logopedia_Silesiana-r2012-t1-s19-29.pdf
Lee, Y. Y., Barendregt, J. J., Stockings, E. A., Ferrari, A. J., Whiteford, H. A., Patton, G. A., & Mihalopoulos, C. (2017). The population
cost-effectiveness of delivering universal and indicated school-based interventions to prevent the onset of major depression
among youth in Australia. Epidemiology and psyhttps://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/epidemiology-and-psychiatric-
sciences/article/population-costeffectiveness-of-delivering-universal-and-indicated-schoolbased-interventions-to-prevent-the-
onset-of-major-depression-among-youth-in-australia/06EAD3D20DEC2EE311E1DCDB05C92505chiatric sciences , 26(5), 545-564.