Parenting Teens with Depression Rogers Behavioral Health

I made the decision to listen to “Parenting Teens With Depression” because as a future educator, I wanted to understand techniques that I could use to help adolescents who are experiencing depression or another form of mental illness. A really important part of this podcast that I think many parents could benefit from hearing is that while you should be a source of support who is ready to provide a child with resources to handle their depression, you don’t always need to jump right into problem solving mode; sometimes that simply isn’t what they need. They may just need someone to listen to them and validate their emotions. Something I found a bit confusing at first, but eventually quite intriguing upon further explanation, were the concepts of behavioral activation and cognitive behavioral therapy. The idea that maintaining a varied, yet consistent schedule of activities can help improve a child’s mood does make sense. Using these theories to find out what a child may be avoiding in life is a useful way to find the root of why exactly they are avoiding a particular activity, and how that avoidance is connected back to their depression. One topic addressed in this podcast that I strongly agree with is that when parents aren’t encouraging behavioral activation, they’re inadvertently accommodating symptoms of depression, which hurts their child. It can be one thing to allow your child to take a day off of school for a mental health day every so often, and it is another not to expect your child to keep up with school work, relationships, hygiene and other responsibilities because they have a mental illness. Children want to and will try their best to live up to the expectations their parents set for them, therefore not setting expectations will hurt them.

I’m so happy to see this resource out there! I coach parents of teens struggling with depression learn to connect, support and advocate for their teen through my 5 steps to emPOWERed parenting program developed after my own personal experience of raising a daughter who struggled with depression. I didn’t find many resources like this when we were going though it!

The podcast that I reviewed was Parenting Teens with Depression. There were 5 other videos that went along with each topic. They talked about what depression is and how it affects children today. First off, being a kid is tough when you are being faced with copious amounts of pressure. They are constantly worrying about being accepted by peers and their own family. In this podcast, they said that research has shown that depression in younger ages is rising a good amount. The main factor of this is said to be the use of electronics and the different apps being used. Such as, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, etc. They mentioned that there was a tipping point in 2011 where half the kids had an electronic device in their pocket. From that time in 2011 they found that depression, anxiety, and suicide has increased. Other than phones, when teens or young children have to deal with a loss in their family or close friends, or things such as a divorce, or even things such as switching schools can increase the chances of depression. Parents need to find the signs of this and need to go about it the right way. If a young teen is experiencing moodiness, lack of motivation, or not wanting to do something they have always wanted to do or loved. These are some things that you can see and maybe check up on them to see if it has to do with depression or if it is just a teen being a teen. Consistency is very helpful when trying to control or help get rid of depression. Making sure the teen is in a routine and has set things that they need to be doing at set times. That way they are focused on what they have to do instead of those negative thoughts. Understanding self harm is a big thing that needs to be taught, and this podcast did a good job making us and the people listening understand. This is a behavior where people(in this case teens) intentionally cut, scratch, bruise, and burn themselves. It’s not necessarily that a person is suicidal, but they want to relieve and change their mood in which they are in, or because they feel bad about themselves. In this podcast, they mentioned that about 40% of teens have engaged in some sort of self harm. They also mentioned that females tend to do self harm more than males. Parents need to be cautious about what they say. Things such as just making the child feel safe and reassuring them that they have done the right thing. Because, if you freak out, they will not feel safe, and they will feel even lonelier. Saying things like “I'm going to help you through this” or “you aren’t alone” this is going to make them feel safe, and they will feel at ease knowing you care for them rather than neglecting them and getting upset with them. Tending to the needs of the teen is very important. They are probably in that position because they don’t feel safe, or they don’t have enough trust with their own parents to tell them. As parents, we need to be that safe space for our children, so they don’t ever have to feel like this ever. This podcast did a great job teaching and making parents aware of how to go about having a child/teen with depression. It’s a scary time for the parent but an even scarier time for the teen. Comfort them and allow them to feel safe in your arms.