Seminar paper from the year 2010 in the subject Psychology -
Diagnostics, ( Atlantic International University ), language: English,
abstract: As adults, when we think back to our childhood, many of us
remember this period in our lives as a 'happy' time, free from the
stresses and worries that accompany adulthood. The reality of the matter
is that many children do experience stress and anxiety, similar to that
of adults and this can, and often does result in children and
adolescents in particular, experiencing mild to severe depression.
According to Gerali (2009), depression is one of the most common issues
that adolescents deal with and it affects teenagers regardless of their
race, ethnicity, gender or socioeconomic status. It is quite normal for
peoples' mood to change during the course of a day, and many experience
mood changes from hour to hour, but when those moods become completely
overwhelming and all consuming or fluctuate wildly, they may be
indicative of some kind of mood disorder (McIntosh & Livingston, 2008).
A depressed child will show characteristics similar to those of adults
but there tends to be more self-blame, self-criticism and a generally
poorer self-concept among teenagers who are experiencing depression
(Jaenicke, Hammen, Zupan, Hiroto, Gordon, Adrian, & Burge, 1987).
Symptoms of depression begin to increase around the time of puberty and
are characterized by intense feelings of sadness and worthlessness,
accompanied by a sense of futility resulting in withdrawal from social
situations (Sue, Sue & Sue, 1997; Berk, 2000). During the course of this
paper, I will focus on defining teenage depression, isolating the causes
and predictive factors in conjunction with certain risk factors. Anxiety
as a correlate of depression will be highlighted and two of the more
common manifestations of depression, dysthymia and bipolar disorder will
be outlined. Coexisting issues and the course of treatment will be
addressed; ending with insight i
