Ask an Expert: Depression in Youth
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Read Dr. Susan Nolen-Hoeksema's bio >
- When does depression typically appear in young people? Why? [0:48]
- Are college-aged students overmedicated? Undermedicated? [0:46]
- Does the stigma of depression still exist for college-aged students? [0:55]
- What are the risks and benefits of giving antidepressants to children? [1:02]
Learn more about depression in youth:
Depression in Children: English version (PDF, 636k) Spanish version (PDF, 772k)
Depression in Teens and College-Age Students: English version (PDF, 636k) Spanish version (PDF, 772k)
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry: www.aacap.org
Transcript
When does depression typically appear in young people? Why?
DR. SUSAN NOLEN-HOEKSEMA: Most of the disorders we know about have their first onset somewhere between late adolescence and early adulthood. So it's just fortuitous that that's also college years. It happens among non-college people, too. But what happens for college students is that the propensity to have a disorder then coincides with all the stresses of college. And college often triggers first onsets for people because they're separated from their support networks. They have all of these new challenges in terms of academics and making new friends and being away from home. And all of that can be stressful enough to actually trigger what might be a predisposition to something like depression.
More Topics
Causes of Depression | Suicide | Depression in Elders | Depression in the World | Depression Treatment
