Understanding Why Teens are Vulnerable to Depression:
The First Step to Helping Your Child

Why Are Adolescents Susceptible to Depression?

Teenage turmoil, recklessness, anger, and defiance is normal to some degree. However, there are several possible contributors to depression: cultural changes, social pressures, and teens’ need to assert their independence, satisfy their curiosity, and explore the limits of their abilities. Equally important are biological influences that are beyond their or your control: genetic predisposition, hormones, and the neural changes happening in their brains.

  • Genetic Predisposition

If depression runs in the family—a grandparent, parent, or sibling has a history of depression—your child’s vulnerability is higher compared to adolescents who have no family members with depression. According to Douglas F. Levinson, MD, and Walter E. Nichols, MD, of the Stanford School of Medicine in “Major Depression and Genetics,” “[in] most cases of depression, around 50% of the cause is genetic, and around 50% is unrelated to genes (psychological or physical factors).” There are studies that support the belief that the depression gene is not solitary, but rather, a set of mixed genes (combination genes) predisposing your teenager to it.

 

  • “Raging” Hormones

Another factor that you can’t dismiss is the effect of shifting hormone levels during your child’s puberty. Hormones are chemicals that regulate growth (growth hormones), the development of primary and secondary sexual attributes (sex hormones), and the way they respond to environmental stresses (adrenal stress hormones).

The hormonal levels of teenagers are described as “raging” because some, like testosterone in boys, can surge up to 10 times higher during the developmental stage. The sex hormones are also the source of certain other chemicals that regulate behavior, such as serotonin.

  • Changes in the Teen Brain

The post “The Adolescent Brain: Beyond Raging Hormones,” published by Harvard Medical School, explains that the “human brain circuitry is not mature until the early 20s.” In fact, approximately 40 percent of the juvenile synapses are eliminated (a process called pruning of gray matter) early in a child’s puberty. Other changes include the thickening of the myelin sheath until they are in their 20s and the development of connections between the two hemispheres of the brain. The last neural connections to be fully developed are those critical for emotional learning and self-control. According to the post, those “between the prefrontal cortex, seat of judgment and problem-solving, and the emotional centers in the limbic system, especially the amygdala” are the last to mature.

The Help That Matters

Depression and other teen issues can be linked to genetic and environmental (social, economic, etc.) factors. It cannot be denied, however, that their issues are also associated with the biological changes happening in their bodies and brains. These make teenagers vulnerable to depression. Recognizing their vulnerability is important in order to provide them with the right kind of assistance to help them bounce back.

Since depression can seriously affect your adolescent child’s health, life, and future, it is important that you help your child as soon as possible. It is equally vital that you seek the right help from professionals you can trust. If you live in Sanford, NC, you can find that help at Carolina Counseling Services – Sanford, NC.

Depression can be treated, especially when treatment is provided quickly. It is essential not to wait for your teen’s condition to get worse before calling Carolina Counseling Services – Sanford, NC. One of our independently contracted therapists can work with you to best help your child. All you need to do to validate if their sadness is due to depression (particularly if they are showing other signs of depression) and to get help is to call CCS in Sanford.

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