The millennial teenager faces a range of contemporary issues, with depression taking center stage as the nibbling issue. The National Institute of Mental Health statistics verifies that over 3.2 million teenagers face depression as of 2018(Gourni,2019). Furthermore, the statistics show that girls are at a t higher risk of experiencing depression in comparison to boys aged 13-19. Several external stressors contribute to the high levels of depression, ranging from self-esteem, parental issues, and academic relationships, among other factors. Assessment strategies provide several ways of analyzing, diagnosing, and starting the treatment process of depression. Different support options and treatments help reduce the causes of depression among teenagers(Gourni,2019). This paper evaluates depression as a major contemporary issue facing teenagers, assessment strategies, external stressors, and support options available to combat and ease cases of depression.
The Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale assessment strategy is a major technique used to assess a client suspected to be under depression. The assessment comprises a questionnaire with 21 items where scoring above 18 shows severe cases of depression (Mubin, & Abdullah, 2021). The client in question answers the questions by circling a number that applies to them, ranging from 0,1,2 or 0, showing the least signs while 3 has the most signs. Moreover, generalized Anxiety Disorder -7 is one of the assessments used to analyze the causes of depression(Mubin, & Abdullah, 2021). The assessment comprises a self-administered questionnaire by the patient with 21 questions. Patients who score more than 15 have severe cases of depression, while patients with less than 5 have mild depression. The Major Depression Inventory developed by the world health organization is one of the key assessments of depression. The person in question answers a range of mood questions that help establish the cause of depression(Mubin, & Abdullah, 2021). Additional questions such as how is the home environment? How is your school environment? Are you on any social media sites? Do you have trouble doing day-to-day activities? Nonetheless, the above assessments are also used during the treatment process to evaluate the patient’s progress.
Notably, external stressors in today’s world have contributed to the high cases of depression. Technology which has taken the world by storm is one of the major contributors to depression. Teenagers spend up to 90% of their time on social media sites such as Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat, among other social media apps that allow them to compare their lives with others (Dash,2018). This comparison gives room for depression as they want to live a life presented on social media. Obesity is also one of the stressors contributing to high levels of depression. Additionally, academic performance is also one of the things that affect teenagers where those with low performance develop low self-esteem. Parental issues such as disagreements starting a home, divorce, and family issues contribute to the high level of depression (Mubin, & Abdullah, 2021). Bullying in school is also a major stressor where students decide to miss school or get into activities such as drug abuse, leading to depression. Substance abuse, such as marijuana and hard drugs, also contributes to teenagers’ high levels of depression.
Talk therapy and psychotherapy are major support options for teenagers facing depression. The therapy provides an opportunity for the client to talk about what is affecting them, their unhealthy behaviors, substance abuse, and ways to combat them more importantly (Mubin, & Abdullah, 2021). The therapy sessions allow the teenagers to learn better habits and coping mechanisms, allowing them to live better lives. In the case where the patient is facing external stressors such as parental issues, talk therapy will provide them with a way of understanding what is happening at home and ways of coping with depression, and how to continue with their lives despite the stressors in their lives(Dash,2018). Different forms of medication such as Prozac and Lexapro reduce mood changes, making the patient more stable. The use of antidepressants allows the patients to manage their appetite and sleep and puts them in a better mood to do their activities.
Conclusively, the millennial teenager faces a range of contemporary issues, with depression taking center stage of the nibbling issues. Several external stressors contribute to the high levels of depression, ranging from self-esteem, parental issues, and academic relationships, among other factors. Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale assessment strategy, and generalized anxiety disorder -7 are one of the major techniques used to assess a client suspected to be under depression. Additionally, talk therapy, psychotherapy, and medication are one of the major support options for teenagers facing depression. Depression is a major contemporary issue facing the teenagers of today. There is a need to assess the mental health of teenagers to reduce the cases of depression.
Gourni, M. (2019). The emergence of depression in teenagers and the role of health professionals. Health & Research Journal, 5(4), 134-149.
Mubin, M., & Abdullah, B. (2021). The impact of bullying on teenagers’ depression level. Malaysian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences, 17, 2636-9346.
Dash, S. (2018). Young adults with depression—are we paying attention? —a review on depression in teenagers in the 21st Century. Life Research, 1(2), 32-39.