I was on a slot with BBC Radio Lancashire last Tuesday who did a section of their afternoon show on teenagers and depression. The broadcaster Sean McGinty has three teenagers of his own so he was really interested in understanding why they display such strange behaviour at times.
We talked about some basic ideas that may shed light on teenage behaviour and skills that can be useful in lifting that depression. I thought some of you would find what we discussed useful.
The genetic debateSome people say that genes are responsible but depression has increased ten fold over the last two generations. A statistic that forces us to look beyond genetics, so what are we left with?
Teenage brains: do not finish developing until their early twentiesThe section of the brain that sits behind the forehead is called the frontal cortex, in a teenager continues to grow until they are about twenty two. The frontal cortex is responsible for thinking things through, empathy, reading external stimuli and a whole host of things.
In a USA study they found that when they asked teenagers and adults to look at a picture (of someone who was angry) and guess the emotion expressed. Only fifty percent of the teenagers compared to one hundred percent of the adults got it right.
Interestingly they found that when they wired up the participants brains, the researchers found that when the teenagers were looking at the picture most of the activity was in the back part of the head and this is to do with gut instinct and emotions. The adults showed most activity in the frontal cortex.
The consequesnces of this are that teenagers will be more emotional and often misread what others say or how they look. Teenagers process information differently so may not understand things that adults assume have been made clear.
The link between junk food and antisocial behaviour.
The UK prison trial at Aylesbury jail showed that when young men there were fed multivitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids, the number of violent offences they committed in the prison fell by 37%. Although no one is suggesting that poor diet alone can account for the complexity of violent behavior, the former chief inspector of prisons Lord Ramsbotham says that he is now ‘absolutely convinced that there is a direct link between diet and antisocial behaviour’
TV can make people exhausted
The fast scene changes in many films and computer games causes something called the orientation response in our brain to continually fire off and this can cause the exhaustion that is characteristic of depression; if too much time is spent playing games or watching action movies on TV.
Not lazy, just have a different set of chemicals to what we adults haveOur sleep cycles are partly governed by a chemical called melatonin, teenager’s melatonin is set to have them up late and sleep later in the morning.
Some of the consequences of underdeveloped brains, and different sleep cycles can lead parents to think that their child is unhappy. High emotionality, quick to react, inability to express themselves clearly and needing lots of sleep can be misinterpreted as the onset of depression but there are other factors that are more significant.
The meaning we attach to events is a deciding factor in depression or happinessThe eminent psychologist Martin Seligman discovered that our ‘explanatory styles’ are what decides our path to depression or feeling fine. That simply means the way in which we explain life’s events to ourselves.
So if a teenager looses in a hockey match and says to himself ‘ I always play rubbish, there is no point in me being in the team in the future as I won’t ever be useful. And I am now not looking forward to going to school at all.’ This is what he calls a global, specific and permanent style and is likely to make the person anxious and feel low.
However if that teenager after that match says ‘ that was not my best game, but the competition was tough and there is still another chance to get in to the final next week…………and I am seeing my mates tonight will cheer me up’ this way of looking at ‘bad’ events inoculates against depression.
Adult and teenage depression can be treated in the same way.
The National Institute of Clinical Excellence decided in 2005 that Drugs should not be the first line of treatment for anyone suffering from depression, also that teenagers and children should rarely be prescribed drugs (antidepressant medication.) Their research shows that talking therapies should be the first line of approach in treatment.
Our Depression Learning Path has helped many suffers of depression, it has a section on Seligman’s explanatory styles. So if you are a teenager who is feeling low or are worried about someone else; they like thousands of others may find the depression learning path helpful. Its all free so take a look.
