What are the symptoms of depression in adolescents?

The symptoms of depression, in general, not only in adolescents, but also in adults, are a depressed mood, that is, sadness, hopelessness, a feeling of emptiness and loss of interest in doing activities.

Those are the main symptoms.

But it is true that these symptoms are accompanied by some behavioral or emotional changes that may be different in adolescents.

In adolescents, depression causes changes in the way they think, feel, and behave.

And that leads to emotional, functional and physical problems.

What kind of changes appear?

The first is usually sadness;

crying may appear for no apparent reason and feelings of hopelessness, emptiness and frustration.

We are also seeing social isolation, introversion;

low self-esteem is also common in adolescent depression.

As self-criticism is, and they are also very sensitive to failure, they need approval, especially social approval, that of the group.

And also, sometimes at school, they need the approval of their teachers.

Then recurring thoughts of death or suicide may appear.

And guilt is also often present.

As far as behavior is concerned, they sometimes have angry outbursts.

If we see a very angry teenager, with many rage attacks, what he may have is a symptom of depression.

This is much less frequent in depression in adults.

They also often have changes in sleep time, or sleep a lot or have difficulty sleeping.

And changes in appetite, either by eating little or by eating a lot, and this can also cause changes in the physical image.

Another symptom is the appearance of anhedonia, which is the difficulty in experiencing pleasure, so they stop doing activities that they used to like.

This is one of the symptoms that best serves to help mothers and fathers detect that their daughter or son may be experiencing depression.

Poor school performance or substance use usually appears as well.

And, as a result of covid-19, it seems that there is an increase in self-harm, although it is not yet known if it is a real increase or that it is now better detected.

There is another symptom that is quite common and it is like slowness, slowness to think, to move, to speak, to reason.

Sometimes it is they or they themselves who realize this, but sometimes it is others who appreciate it.

And together with that apparent slowness there may be a feeling of restlessness because depressive symptoms are often accompanied by symptoms of anxiety.

The big question is how to distinguish these symptoms of depression from the normal changes that occur during adolescence in the vast majority of girls and boys.

Therefore, one of the main symptoms is that they stop doing activities that were previously pleasurable.

What you need to identify is when there are changes from their previous behavior.

Regarding gender differences, depression is much more common in female adolescents than in male adolescents, it is twice as common.

Depression is equally prevalent in girls and boys, but when adolescence begins, it becomes more prevalent in women than in men.

This may be due to hormonal changes because those that women have in adolescence are incomparable with those that men have.

This can lead to a hormonal imbalance that can lead to depressive symptoms.

And it can also be caused by the pressure women feel because they are women.

It must be taken into account that the changes that occur at the body level are suffered by women much earlier than men.

It is not the same that at 11 or 12 years old you start to have a chest than at 15, an age in which you are already more mature, you start to grow a little beard.

Because women mature earlier than men, they encounter these pressures earlier.

A mother or father who finds that their adolescent son or daughter has symptoms of depression should seek psychological help.

It's fundamental.

The problem should not be minimized.

That if you don't talk about it, it seems like it's not happening is a mistake.

They should talk to their daughters or sons who probably need to go to a psychologist.

And, almost certainly, mothers and fathers also need psychological attention to be able to help their daughters and sons.

And there are times when adolescents with depression also need psychiatric help because they must be medicated.

No problem.

If symptoms are treated, depression has a good prognosis.

It is necessary to know that depression is a serious illness and that if you have had a depressive episode it is likely that you will have another one again, but if it is not treated, the consequences can be very serious, they can go as far as suicide or the chronification of the disease.

Paola Herrera Mercadal

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