Teenage Depression Statistics
Alarming Numbers on Teenage Depression
Over time, teenage depression occurrences have increased in number, not only in the whole country but worldwide as well.
Presented below are some statistical data gathered about teen depression.
- 20% of teens were reported to experience depression before reaching adulthood
- There are about 5 percent of teenagers who suffer from clinical depression
- For adults, some 5.3 percent of them suffer from depression for a year while in teens, 8.3% of them do so.
- One type of depression, dysthymia, affects 2% of teens.
- Adjustment disorder with depressed mode is the most common type of depression among adolescents.
- When afflicted with teenage depression, most of these teens will suffer from these more than once.
- In teens suffering from depression, less than 33 percent of them seek for treatment.
What the Numbers Reflect
Why then should teen depression be a huge concern for all of us? With the numbers presented above, it is shown that over the years, teenage depression has become more common. Studies have also shown that among the number of teens suffering form teenage depression, only 30% percent of them receive treatment, with the remaining 70% left alone to help themselves.
Teenage suicide is also one of the growing concerns of society. Oftentimes, the root cause of teenage suicide is depression that was left untreated. The number of teens committing suicide has constantly been increasing, so this is one of the major concerns nowadays.
Teenage depression leads to reckless behavior. Teens often do high risk activities such as reckless driving, violence, self-inflicted injuries and unprotected sex. Unprotected sex would then result to teenage pregnancy. According to reports, more than 500,000 teenagers give birth every year. Of all these deliveries, more than half of them end up in poverty, putting their children’s health at risk. These children are often unhealthy, neglected, abused, and are likely to perform poorly in school. Many of these children are often left to foster care.
When a person has suffered from teenage depression, then there is also a chance that you may suffer from this same disorder when you are already an adult. This is more likely to happen in cases where no treatment or therapy was given. Other activities that a person may be involved in are criminal activities and substance abuse. These are activities give these teens a temporary boost in their self-esteem, once the substance react with the neurotransmitters in the brain.
Awareness of teenage depression is a very important thing to consider, especially to parents, health care providers, significant others, and teenagers themselves. Knowing the causes would be very vital so that you will know if you are at risk for such. The signs and symptoms, when known by parents and significant others, will be a guide for them should they notice odd behaviors in their children. For the teens, knowing the signs and symptoms will help in assessing yourself if you feel these ones. Once you see to it that you are at risk for developing teenage depression, then you should immediately ask the help of someone.
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