Two years after the country was rattled by the Virginia Tech shooting that left 33 dead, THIRTEEN takes a critical look at the issues surrounding teen depression and suicide in Cry for Help, premiering Wednesday, April 29 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). If you miss the premiere, you can watch the full program below:
Behind the acts of violence and rage of both the Virginia Tech and Columbine shootings is a larger issue of mental illness in teens that is rarely addressed. For instance:
- The rate of teenage suicide has tripled over the last 60 years –28 teenagers a week now die by suicide.¹
- Depression and anxiety in adolescents often go unrecognized or untreated for years, and the results can be fatal – over 90 percent of adolescents who die by suicide have a diagnosable mental illness at the time of their death. ²
While school shootings are rare, signs of mental illness in the perpetrators of these crimes are not. School shooters often have a history of suicide attempts, suicidal thoughts or depression³ – which makes identifying those conditions through mental health screening critically important.
Cry for Help takes an intimate look at the efforts of two high schools to identify adolescents at risk. Hamilton High School in Ohio and Clarkstown North High School in New York have both been affected by teen suicide and have launched powerful new programs to prevent future tragedies.
Following the unrelated suicides of four students that shook the Hamilton community, school officials are taking a direct approach with “Character Day” – a raw, emotional, and honest program designed to motivate students to open up and ask for help. In Clarkstown, school officials are taking advantage of the time their students spend on the Internet by creating an online community – one where teens can anonymously air their problems and seek support from their peers and professionals.
Cry for Help also examines the often difficult transition from high school to college through a first-person account of a young woman who has battled mental illness. Stacy Hollingsworth, a straight-A student and gifted musician, was by all appearances a well-adjusted and accomplished young person. When Stacy phoned home from a campus psychiatric hospital during her freshman year at college, it was then that her parents realized things were not as perfect as they seemed. She had been hiding depression, suicidal thoughts, and feelings of paralyzing hopelessness for years. Stacy and her parents chronicle the painstaking journey to put her life back together, and how she founded her college’s first on-campus chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill.
Additionally, Cry for Help looks at the efforts by some parents to tackle behavior and communication issues during their children’s earliest years – before depression, violence, anger or suicidal impulses take over.
Interviewees include Dr. Chris Lucas, professor of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry at New York University; Dr. Frank Robertz, co-founder of Institute for Violence Prevention and Applied Criminology in Berlin, Germany; and Dr. Nolan Zane, Director of the Asian American Center on Disparities Research.
THIRTEEN’s Cry for Help is funded by the Estate of Marya Sielska; Members of THIRTEEN; the Irene Ritter Foundation; Judy Collins; the Leon Lowenstein Foundation; Donna and Phil Satow; the Marion E. Kenworthy-Sarah H. Swift Foundation.
Cry for Help is a production of THIRTEEN for WNET.ORG. Mary Murphy is producer and Scott Davis is senior producer. Edie Magnus is reporter and executive producer. Neal Shapiro and Stephen Segaller are executives-in-charge.
¹ Campus Mental Service, Recommendations for Change. Vastag et al, 2001.
² Nejm 2006. Study from Velez et al, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 1988.
³ Secret Service Threat Assessment Study for the U.S. Justice Dept.
is there a version of the video where the audio is *not* distorted?
“my depression is a chemical imbalance caused by the under production of serotonin in the brain”.
This is a lie. Depression has been with humans since the start of time. Our thoughts and feelings create our brain chemistry, our brain chemistry does not make our feelings. A brain imbalance only happens when we take drugs.
Depression is a feeling that comes from lonelyness and hopelessness and whatever is unsatisfactory in our life. Depression used to be a sin of Sloth.
Sloth: A refusal to enjoy the good things in the world. No one can MAKE you enjoy life, you have to want to enjoy it.
In another world I would medically take away one of the suicidally depressed senses for a time, such as vision. Then return it after say six months. Is sight a good thing or not?
Mark, you are wrong. The brain is a complex organ. Life experiences have a direct impact on how we feel, but so does brain chemistry, which is, for some, out of whack. Chemical imbalances in the brain can be hereditary or can be caused by overuse of harmful illicit drugs or alcohol. Fortunately, there is treatment and it usually works. The treatment starts with correcting the imbalance. A psychiatrist or neuropsych specialist can help with that. My specific diagnosis was made 25 years ago, when few victims were accurately diagnosed or treated. I have panic disorder with depression, it is hereditary, and it is chronic. It is the result of my brain not producing enough seratonin and norepinephrine, which makes my brain go kind of haywire. My symptoms are physical, emotional, and mental and render me unable to function. Treatment (including meds) have enabled me to raise my children, work, and be happy. Thank God there’s treatment! Anyway who thinks they might need help – go get it!
The article states,
> rate of teenage suicide
> has tripled over the last 60 years
Reporting rates or incidence rates?
The article continues,
> over 90 percent of adolescents
> who die by suicide
> have a diagnosable mental illness
Using the mental health INDUSTRY billing bible (DSM IV), essentially every human has some symptoms that’ll offer a billable diagnosis for the mental health INDUSTRY. Some of the symptoms might correlate with some demonstrable, underlying illness or condition, or disease process. Put a hundred mental health practitioners into a room, and they’ll reach 200 different diagnoses.
Nigerian generals carry greater credibility.
> Depression and anxiety in adolescents
> often go unrecognized or untreated for years
Sounds like poor parenting, which doesn’t fall within the “mission statement” of a school.
> While school shootings are rare,
> signs of mental illness
> in the perpetrators of these crimes are not.
Point 1: “Crime” involves law enforcement resources, not educational resources.
Point 2: Both K-12 and secondary education resources are already inadequate. Diverting “patients” into the mental health INDUSTRY on the public budget is an outrageous diversion of K-12 tax receipts, state university subsidies, and both public and private student tuition.
The article relates,
> Stacy … had been hiding depression,
> suicidal thoughts, and feelings
> of paralyzing hopelessness for years.
The student dealt handled the issues in an appropriate form, specifically, her family. Hardly a convincing demonstration on the effectiveness or legitimacy of diverting class time, facilities, staff salaries to mental health INDUSTRY customer referrals.
The author of comment #4 (above) Julia states,
> “my depression is a chemical imbalance
> caused by the under production of serotonin”
Maybe so, maybe not.
Many (most?) psychaiatric meds carry prescribing labels saying something like, “The SUSPECTED mechanism of action is….”
Send a hundred patients to each of a hundred practitioners, and they’ll get a different diagnosis and prescription from every psychaiatrist or internist. Send those hundred patients to a hundred psychologists or therapists, and you’ll get another hundred “explanations.”
> I have seen my parents cry before in private
Social stigma says crying isn’t acceptable in public.
In #5, Maryse writes,
> “When I went to school,
> we didn’t have the
> tons of homework my kids have every night.”
Aside from umbrage and indignation, how is discipline, diligence and ACADEMIC demands somehow bad? “Academia” and “school” sort of go together.
If “Theory Y” has any legitimacy, students will RISE to meet expectations, given half a chance to succeed.
Alternately, one can enroll kids in a baby-sitter-style-school.
In #6, April writes,
> “My 17 year old son
> attempted suicide twice this year.”
How appalling that a TV SHOW is the trigger to deal with the kid’s suicide attempts. Schools aren’t parents, and aren’t a suitable receptacle for dumping child-rearing responsibilities. Dumping the immedicacy of parental responsibilities on already overwhelmed teachers is unrealistic and unfair.
> “Her school is a toxic environment
> of over-achieving high schoolers
> pushed to choose a life track at 15,
> questing to be physically perfect
> and with a disturbing mix of sex and drugs.
Instead of whining, you could (1) participate within the school to fix the problems, (2) enroll your kid(s) in a different public, (3) move to a different school district.
None of those alternatives involve subsidizing private matters with public funding.
> “My first training in child/adolescent
> psychiatry began in 1951.
> I am still a practicing psychiatrist”
* In your patient population, what’s your “success rate”, divided among “cure”, “improvement”, or “failure”?
* One suspects little relevance to 59-year-old education, given the rapid pace of medical research and innovation. What’re your current qualifications to justify the implied “expert” status you claim?
> mental health isues were treated
> as if the illness were their own fault.
“Victim Syndrome” runs rampant in America. Everyone “done wrong”, and expects others to “make it right.”
Social stimatization doesn’t justify devoting public EDUCATIONAL resource to private medical issues.
Everyone needs to understand what teens are going through. It is not easy for them dealing with daily challeges. They want to talk but are we as adults willing to listen.
We must remember when we were teens and how hard it was. Sometimes as adults we forget.
wow i knew bullying was serious, but i didn’t think it was this serious. i thought i had it bad but families of bullycide have it worse.
everyone really need to be aware of how much bullying is REALLY going on beneath the surface. for reasons such as suicide, bullycide, and for the protection of others physical and mental well-being.
wow! Bullycide is really getting out of hand. did anyone know that, Every week in the U.S., 28 teens take their own lives? thats at least 4 per day! it is really upsetting to hear about all of this. i’ve read at least 138 stories on kids that have commited suicide do to bullying. 138!!!!! and im sure there are sooo many more.
i think that if everyone comes together to stop bullying that together we could make our schools safer and more fun for current and future generations. also if we stop bullying im sure suicide numbers will go down a little bit.
i stand corrected. I’ve read 149 bullycide stories. 149!!!!!!! this HAS TO stop. seriously. this is getting TOO out of hand. we really need to stop bullying. and we need to do it soon. did anyone know that at least 2,000 teens are successful in taking their own lives EACH YEAR. 2,000!!!!!!!! if you know about something that would help try doing it so these numbers will go down. SOON.
I just now saw this video after the premire of If you only knew me on MTV. My heart goes out to the families of teens that have been bullied to the point they felt suicide was their only option. My 13 yr old daughter is starting to be on the receiving end of bulling, usually because of BOY that another girl likes, speaks to her…that’s all, speaks to her and then all the sudden she’s a slut, whore, boyfriend stealer (grant, the boy and girl that likes him are not going out!) but you get the picture. Parents have to talk to their children…I know it feels like this is all life is ever going to be, but wait til get to high school, or out of school…none of these people will ever matter to you then.
These messages really touch me because when i was young i was bullied so badly i was starting to think of commiting suicide myself. But something always held me back. To this day i still can’t figure out what. However i am thankful to whatever it was.
Did any one know that 160,000 kids skip school PER DAY because of fear of being bullying at school? And In a 2001 study by the Kaiser Foundation in conjunction with Nickelodeon TV network and Children Now, 86% of children ages 12-15 interviewed said they get teased or bullied at school — making bullying more prevalent than smoking, alcohol, drugs, or sex among the same age group. Also 7 percent of eighth-graders stay home at least once a month because of bullies. To anyone who wants to know more about bullying and all thats under the radar go to http://WWW.MWPUAB.COM
bullycide isn’t only affecting teens any more. my 12 year old friend just TRIED to commit sucide because she’s in so much emotional pain. i knew it was serious before but this is getting past the lines. People need to know how there kids are feeling so kids don’t succeed in killing themselves. even though my friend is in care to get better i’m worried she will still try to do it again. SERIOUSLY PEOPLE GO BEYOND THE SURFACE. you say you know your kids are ok but under the surface they might be thinking of suicide themselves. PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR KIDS. watch out for your kids. no one else wants to lose their kid(s)
directed to luney tuney –
If psychology and mental health isn’t “educational” than what is?? Also if devoting school time to learning how to be a better human being, learning how to treat people and overcome stress, obstacles, and stigmas is a waste of time then please look around you. Our society could use some life lessons in these areas. Not too mention the majority of the teens they were talking about don’t have parents to teach them these things. They don’t have a family life that allows them to move schools or excel in life. Maybe it’s time to open your eyes and your mind and truly acknowledge the world you live in.
I just want to say THANK YOU! For the excellent documentary, for the information provided about the statistics and the signs, so we can evaluate if our own tenagers are showing signs of depresion and finally the ways we can build the bridge of comunication and understanding on a very young age. I only wish there were more schools or better yet that every school had a program like one of these.
You are facing the painful truth. Most people are blinded by being trapped inside the endlessly spinning false dialectic of the Left and the Right.
Mark, my brother has dealt with Schizophrenia and depression since a young age, and although it was possibly due to complications with child birth and experimental child birth drugs given to my mother during the birth period, I have to say that unfortunately you are wrong. Chemical imbalances can and will happen to anyone, and are circumstantial but human anatomy/child birth isn’t infallible. Nobody has the perfect genes, and genetics are easily affected by many environmental and chemical factors, but they do in fact exist because the human body is malleable. The malleability of the human body can lead to many diseases including cancer which are based strictly on genetic defects, which are out of the effected person’s control. I’m not saying that every teen with emotional issues has a chemical imbalance, but what I am saying is that it isn’t something that you should discount because you haven’t been effected by it directly. Although depression has been with humans since the beginning of time, the chemical imbalance of which the speaker is referring to is a nouveau discovery based on scientific evidence and research. Do I think that all children who have problem’s have a mental illness? Of course not, but some of these teen’s are seriously being effected by biological factor’s which may be out of their control.
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Thank you Dr Paul for refining our teaching skills.
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Yes! I’m not the only one who says “misunderestimated”!
Great stuff. I wish to have client that can understand that sometimes “less is more”.
I am a Stephen Leader with Mount Pleasant Christian Church in Greenwood, IN. Great piece on Stephen Ministry! Would it be possible to have this on DVD so we could use it in our training/promoting without having to go thru the internet?