Concerns over rising cases of teenage depression
Jane Ajayi ( not real name) , a fifteen year old girl who lost her younger brother Rasheed two years ago in a car accident that involved the family. But since the incident, Jane has been sad, irritable and withdraws from friends and family.
Her busy parents hardly noticed the changes until poor academic performance set in.
They also began to notice changes in her eating and sleeping habits. It became too difficult to ignore when a call from the teacher about her tendency to isolate herself in school jolted the parents to seek professional help.
Jane is among some 350 million people according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) suffering from depression.
Depression is a common mental disorder, characterized by sadness, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt or low self-worth, disturbed sleep or appetite, feelings of tiredness, and poor concentration.
It can be long-lasting or recurrent, substantially impairing an individual’s ability to function at work or school or cope with daily life.
At its most severe, depression can lead to suicide. When mild, people can be treated without medicines but when depression is moderate or severe they may need medication and or talk to professionals.
Richard Adebayo of Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Yaba said that depression is worse in teenagers especially females.
It is manifested by irritability, mood swings, loss of interest in normal activities, fear, anxiety comes before inception of a major depressive disorder.
“Anxiety normally emerges before depression, then irritability and fear sets in, these are the major beginning of depression in adolescents or children.
He said that parents, teachers and doctors should train disabled teenagers not to see themselves as helpless or needing the pity of others as this may quicken their stride into depression which is becoming a leading cause of suicide.
“Just like the recent report of a 19 year old university undergraduate that committed suicide, he might be depressed or has anxiety over some issues that are quite challenging to him. But anxiety has deprived him of his expression and that lead to his suicide,” says Adebayo.
Doyin Odunbayo, public health expert corroborates this view emphasising that depression in adolescents leads most of them to attempt suicide due to feelings of hopelessness and helplessness.
“Adolescent like adults are committing suicide for wavering reasons such as broken home, humiliation, drug abuse, financial challenges, parent crisis and even stigmatization.
Odunbayo further said, “The other feelings they have when they are not able to control the situation; they feel at that point to end it all, trying to escape from the hurt, victimization, rejection , pain, being unloved. So other sought quickly to death because they are afraid of disappointing others like their parents or sponsors.
“Depression does not happen because of one event or a particular incident, but at this point when notices, they need help to turn around a bad situation by teaching him or her how best to deal with painful feelings that can help the adolescent to defeat the thought of suicide
WHO says that depression is a disorder that can be reliably diagnosed and treated by non-specialists as part of primary health care.
Specialist care is needed for a small proportion of individuals with complicated depression or those who do not respond to first-line treatments.
Depression is different from usual mood fluctuations and short-lived emotional responses to challenges in everyday life. Especially when long-lasting and with moderate or severe intensity, depression may become a serious health condition.
It can cause the affected person to suffer greatly and function poorly at work, at school and in the family.
At its worst, depression can lead to suicide. According to the WHO over 800 000 people die due to suicide every year and suicide has become the second leading cause of death in 15-29-year-olds.
Although there are known, effective treatments for depression, fewer than half of those affected in the world receive such treatments.
In Nigeria and other developing countries barriers to effective care include a lack of resources, lack of trained health care providers, and social stigma associated with mental disorders and inaccurate assessment.
In countries of all income levels, people who are depressed are often not correctly diagnosed, and others who do not have the disorder are too often misdiagnosed and prescribed antidepressants.
The burden of depression and other mental health conditions is on the rise globally. A World Health Assembly resolution passed in May 2013 has called for a comprehensive, coordinated response to mental disorders at country.
Anthonia Obokoh