What Is Depression?

Understanding Depression and Why It Matters

Depression is more than just feeling sad for a couple of days. It’s a mental health condition that can deeply affect the way you think, feel, and live. Unlike normal sadness, which is typically temporary, depression lasts longer and can disrupt school, work, or relationships. It often feels overwhelming and persistent, making it difficult to overcome without treatment.

Recognizing the signs of depression in your teen is crucial for getting them the right help. It can show up as low energy, changes in sleep or appetite, loss of interest in things they once loved, or feelings of hopelessness. Understanding that depression is a real and treatable condition is the first step toward healing.

These days, many people are talking about mental health and discussing topics like what depression is. [1] That’s a good thing! But there is also a lot of misinformation out there about different disorders, what they look like, and how they can affect the people who have them. Unfortunately, even the most common mental health disorders can be mischaracterized in ways that are harmful.

The good news is, no matter what kind of depression you’re dealing with, you aren’t alone, and there are effective treatment options available.

So read on to learn more about what depression actually is, what it looks and feels like, and how you can get help if you think your teen might have this condition.

What Is Depression and How Is It Different From Normal Sadness?

One of the most common misconceptions about depression is that it’s just feeling a bit sad or not having motivation. In some cases, that may be what depression looks like on the outside, but the symptoms are much more complex and usually last longer than simple emotions.

Major differences between being depressed and having depression are the length of time that the depressed feelings stick around and how much they interfere with day-to-day life.

It is normal to feel depressed sometimes after distressing events or just because of natural changes in mood. But these feelings shouldn’t last very long.

It’s only when these feelings are consistent for 2 weeks or longer and start to interfere with normal life that they can be called a disorder.

There are a lot of symptoms of depression other than just feeling sad. It’s common for people dealing with this condition to talk about not feeling anything at all or not being able to feel happy, either.

Is Depression Genetic?

Clinical depression [2] does run in families, but that doesn’t mean that you’re guaranteed to have depression just because 1 or both of your parents have the disorder. Most experts tend to think of genetics as being a potential risk factor for depression, rather than a cause.

Teens whose families have a history of depression are more likely to develop depression. Other people, who have no known family history of mental disorders, including depression, may develop depression.

Like any disorder, the events in your teen’s life, their lifestyle, the choices they make, and even where they live can have a big effect on whether they develop depression.

Your teenager is not doomed to get depression, even if you do have a family history, and they aren’t to blame if they develop depression without a family history. Like all mental health disorders, depression is complex.

What Are Common Risk Factors for Depression?

Depression is a chemical imbalance that causes chronic low mood and a range of other symptoms. There can be some specific risk factors that lead to depression, but it can also seem to develop spontaneously. While we know about some risk factors, mental health and medical professionals do not use them to confirm or rule out depression as a possibility.

These risk factors are simply used to help them determine your teen’s likelihood of developing the condition.

Here are some common risk factors:

Chronic Stress

Chronic stress, from a job, financial stress, situations out of your control, or other circumstances can all cause changes in the way you think and feel. If prolonged enough, stress can even change the way your brain functions and the balance of neurotransmitters in the brain.

That makes stress a significant risk factor for depression, meaning it’s important to know how to manage stress when you’re dealing with the condition.

Once stress causes a depressive episode or longer-lasting depression, treatment isn’t as simple as reducing stress levels. Chronic stress-induced depression should generally be treated the same as other kinds of depression, which may include a combination of lifestyle changes, stress management, talk therapy, and medications.

Previous Depressive Episodes

Depression isn’t always a chronic condition. Teens can suffer from depression for a few weeks, a few months, or a few years and then get better. There are also chronic forms of depression, but they generally last longer and don’t go away as completely as what’s called a depressive episode, or a clinically relevant but temporary depression.

However, if your teen has had one of those depressive episodes, they may be at increased risk of having another depressive episode, even if they recovered . This kind of depression may be brought on by stress, life events, the weather, or a combination of those and other factors

Some people have depression once and never again, while other people have depression seasonally, or at various times in their lives. It’s not entirely predictable person to person, but you can learn to recognize the warning signs of an oncoming depressive episode in your teenager.

A Family Member With Depression or Another Mental Health Disorder

While depression in your adolescent is not entirely genetic — a person who had depression won’t necessarily pass it on to their children — and there aren’t any specific genes we know of that cause depression, genetics can be another risk factor.

If someone in your family has been diagnosed with depression, your child has a greater risk of developing the disorder. They might also have a higher risk of depression if there is a family history of other mental health disorders.

The more people in your family that have mental health conditions, and the more closely related to your child those relatives are, the greater the potential risk.

However, no amount of family history means that your will certainly develop depression or any other mental health disorder. Managing other factors can still lower your teen’s overall risk of developing depression.

Certain Chronic Medical Conditions

If your teen has a long-term health condition, it may also increase their chances of developing depression. The link between the two depends on the specific condition. For some illnesses, like fibromyalgia, depression and the condition are closely connected, meaning if someone has one, they’re more likely to have the other.

When two conditions are frequently found together in the same person, they are called “comorbid.” This can mean a few different things: The two conditions may be directly related to each other, they may share the same underlying causes, or having one condition may trigger changes in the body or mind that eventually lead to the other.

In other cases, having a chronic health condition may make depression more likely because of the added stress of having and managing the condition, the realities of living with the condition, or the isolation that is sometimes associated with certain health conditions.

Certain Medications

Some medications may also affect your teen’s risk of developing depression. Usually, these medications list depression as a potential side effect and come with warnings to seek help right away if you start experiencing symptoms of depression or if you start thinking about self-harm or suicide.

The good news is that depression that’s a side effect of a medication doesn’t usually last long The symptoms of depression should go away shortly after your teen stops taking the medication, and you can work with their doctor to find alternatives.

In the case that your teenager’s symptoms do persist after a medication brings on depression or makes existing depression worse, you should work with their doctor to come up with a new treatment plan to help manage whatever pre-existing conditions your child was dealing with and the new or worsened depression. You shouldn’t try to deal with depression on your own, and you shouldn’t dismiss any low feelings your teen gets while taking a medication known to cause or worsen depression.

Some Character Traits

Certain personality traits may also make your teenager more likely to develop depression. However, it’s not fully understood whether these traits actually cause depression, or whether they simply tend to appear alongside it. This is perhaps because the same underlying factors drive both.

To be clear, having these traits is not a guarantee that your teen will develop depression; they are simply another risk factor.

One trait that can affect your teen’s risk of depression is how optimistic or pessimistic they are. The more likely they are to think that things will generally work out in a positive way, the less likely they are to develop depression. The opposite is also true: If your child tends to think that things will work out in a negative way, they are more likely to develop the condition.

There are many different character traits that can be factors in developing or overcoming depression. Those traits aren’t bad, or your child’s fault, or the only reason they do or do not develop depression. They are just risk factors, like how having pale skin increases your risk of sunburn. Nothing more.

A History of Trauma

If your teen has a history of trauma, this can also increase their risk of developing depression and other mental health disorders. Trauma can increase their risk of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which can have many similar symptoms to depression; PTSD and depression can also be comorbid.

Trauma can also be a problem because it increases your teen’s stress level. Traumatic experiences are inherently stressful, and dealing with the aftermath of the actual event can be stressful, as well.

A history of trauma may also change your child’s perception of their control over life or alter some of their traits in ways that can make depression more likely.

Lastly, the high stress of trauma can also change the way your teenager’s brain works and the balance of neurotransmitters in their brain. Repeated trauma can make those changes more likely or more severe, which may lead to other mental health disorders over time.

Mental health treatment can be just as effective for trauma-related issues as it is for any other mental health condition.

Loss

Loss can sometimes trigger for depression, especially when it’s combined with other risk factors like social isolation, a history of trauma, or chronic stress. The loss of a loved one has a profound effect that can be severe and sometimes lasts a long time.

If your teenager’s reaction to a loss seems to last longer than expected, feels more intense than usual, or starts getting in the way of their everyday life, it may have gone beyond normal grief and could be a sign of depression. Whether these reactions are long-term or temporary, they can still benefit from treatment and attention.

In some cases, grief may turn into depression, either episodic or chronic. However, loss does not always mean depression will follow.

Significant Life Changes

Like chronic stress and loss, significant changes in your teen’s lifestyle can sometimes lead to depression. For instance, moving across country can change their situation, lifestyle, schedule, and even their circadian rhythm; their body may even respond to seasonal changes differently.

Changing jobs, becoming a parent, and other big life events, even positive ones, can all be triggers for depression and other mental health disorders.

This kind of trigger can sometimes be confusing, especially if it happens at an otherwise happy time, such as after a person achieves a significant accomplishment. Remember that this reaction is still natural, and that your shouldn’t blame themselves if they don’t feel the way they want to in response to specific events. It’s OK for them to let themselves genuinely feel whatever seems true to them in the moment, even if that turns out to be depression.

The good news is that treatment for depression can be effective no matter what circumstances brought these feelings on.

Substance Abuse

Certain kinds of substance abuse can also increase the risk of depression. Using drugs can be isolating, stressful, or expose your teenager to other kinds of stress that can increase their risk of depression. At the same time, many drugs — even common ones like alcohol or tobacco — make it easier for your child to become depressed.

Other drugs, like cocaine, can cause significant problems because they change the way your adolescent’s brain works and alter the balance of neurotransmitters. Specifically, cocaine can cause overproduction of serotonin. This makes the brain reduce the amount of serotonin it produces even after the cocaine wears off. Party drugs can frequently have effect or cause other problems.

Substance abuse is also a good reason to reach out for help sooner, especially if you start to notice that your teenager is dealing with a chronically low mood or some of the other depression symptoms below.

When Is Depression Most Likely to Develop?

Unlike with some mental health disorders, there is not a set time when depression is more likely to develop. Children can have depression, and it’s a common mental health disorder among both teens and adults. That does mean that this disorder can be somewhat unpredictable.

Depression is slightly more likely to develop after a high-stress situation, loss, and trauma, but even then you may not see symptoms for months or years after a high-risk situation resolves. But sometimes depression has no known trigger and seems to develop organically.

However, this disorder is fairly well understood, and there are many treatment options available.

Depression Symptoms

There are a lot of potential depression symptoms. It’s important to remember that only a professional can diagnose your child. If a lot of these symptoms sound familiar, it might be a good idea to talk with a medical professional about your concerns.

If your teen has depression, they may experience the following symptoms:

• Feeling tired all the time
• Not having much motivation
• Experiencing a low mood all or most of the time, especially in the morning
• Feeling like they need to hide how they feel in social situations
• Having difficulty wanting to do things, even things they used to enjoy
• Difficulty remembering things
• Difficulty taking care of themselves, like taking a shower, eating regularly, or brushing their teeth
• Appetite changes, i.e., regularly eating too much or too little
• Sleeping too much or too little
• Restlessness or feeling like something is holding them back
• Aches and pains that don’t go away with treatment
• Regular headaches that don’t go away with treatment
• Feeling anxious, sad, or empty a lot of the time

Some of the common symptoms of depression appear to be contradictory, like sleeping both too much and too little. That is because different people experience different symptoms, and because your teen’s symptoms may not be consistent over time.

For instance, teenagers with depression may also deal with insomnia that stops them from sleeping most of the time, but then sleep much longer than they should when they are able to get some rest.

Your child can also have other symptoms associated with depression if they have a comorbid disorder. However, if they’ve been diagnosed with more than one mental health disorder, it’s important to ask whether and how that affects treatment and how to best move forward with both diagnoses.

Additionally, depression can affect people differently, and there are various types of depression that sometimes need different treatment and coping mechanisms. It may take a while to find the right combinations of treatment or even to know for sure what type of depression your teen is dealing with.

How to Know When It’s Time to Ask for Help

Getting help for depression can be challenging and even frightening, especially if you and your teenager aren’t familiar with the disorder or have misconceptions about mental health. Getting help for depression and other mental health disorders isn’t a sign of weakness or that you’ve failed. It’s just like having other kinds of health conditions for which you would need treatment.

Recognizing that other people have expertise in what your teen is experiencing can help them live your life more fully.

As to when you should seek help, that’s largely up to you. It’s generally a good idea to seek treatment if your teen feels like their feelings are holding them back or if they feel like their depression is getting worse. You should also seek immediate help if they are thinking about hurting themselves or have suicidal ideation.

Your child’s symptoms don’t have to be bad for treatment to help. Therapists aren’t just there to help with mental health problems; they can also help with the day-to-day challenges that make life difficult or just give your teen someone to talk to.

If you think your adolescent might benefit from depression treatment, it’s probably a good idea to reach out.

Types of Depression Treatment

There are a lot of different options out there when it comes to treating depression, and not everyone responds the same way to every kind of treatment. Finding the right balance of treatment options is important for a successful outcome.

Individual talk therapy is one of the best-known types of treatment for depression [3]. Other common approaches include:

• Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
• Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
• Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy
• Interpersonal therapy
• Psychodynamic therapy
• Therapy pets
• Holistic or integrative therapy
• Humanistic therapy
• Client-centered therapy

Each of these therapeutic method targets depression symptoms and helps teens cope with and overcome their depression in varying ways. Different therapists will be familiar with a range of approaches and often combine techniques they find work best for the patient.

Group therapy, family therapy, or interpersonal therapy can also be helpful and offer different insight than individual therapy alone.

Lifestyle changes may also be recommended to your teen to help them deal with depression. Spending more time outside, exercising, or developing a mindfulness practice have all been shown to reduce feelings of depression and increase feelings of happiness or contentedness. These approaches can be adapted to teens of different ability levels and temperaments to suit their needs.

Medications are another treatment option. They alter the balance of neurotransmitters in your teen’s brain to help combat the physical signs of depression, like lower levels of serotonin or dopamine, or altered brain structures that may produce more or less of certain neurotransmitters than normal.

Finding the right medication can take time, and medications affect people differently. Finding a suitable medication for your teen can also be challenging because they are undergoing a lot of physical changes in their bodies and their brains, so the prescription that works for a while might stop working as your child mature.

This isn’t a bad thing, it’s just a sign that brains and neurochemistry are complicated, and that it takes work and flexibility to find the right treatment.

How to Get Depression Treatment for Teens

There are a lot of options out there when it comes to getting treatment for depression. Puberty means a lot of changes are happening quickly, including in your teen’s brain. Depression is complicated, but with treatment, it can get better.

For teens who are having a hard time or haven’t had much success with other kinds of treatment for their depression, Base Point Academy offers hope, providing personalized treatment in a controlled and safe setting.

If BasePoint Academy sounds like a good option for your teen, contact us to learn more about our programs and schedule a complimentary same-day assessment.

Comprehensive Care for Teens Struggling with Depression

If your teen is battling depression or another mental health challenge, specialized care can make all the difference. BasePoint Academy offers evidence-based teen mental health treatments that to provide holistic and individualized care. Options at BasePoint include Partial Hospitalization Programs (PHPs) and Intensive Outpatient Programs (IOPs) near Dallas.

If you’re researching how much outpatient mental health or partial hospitalization costs and find yourself wondering about insurance coverage, reach out to BasePoint Academy. We work with many insurance providers, including UMR, Aetna, and Cigna, to ensure accessible care.

With a trusted team of licensed teen therapists, BasePoint Academy provides depression treatment for teens in Texas. We offer confidential mental health assessments and here to answer your questions. Contact us to explore compassionate care that can help your teen heal, grow, and thrive.

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