Depression:
Treatment Options for Teens
How is depression treated?
There are many different kinds of treatment for depression. Deciding on the right treatment for you depends upon how much difficulty you are having, what treatment options are available to you, and your personal feelings about how you want to deal with the depression.
- Counseling or Therapy. Counseling or therapy (sometimes called psychotherapy) is something that can help with depression. It includes talking about your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in a confidential setting. This means that the counselor cannot tell anyone what the two of you talk about, unless you are a danger to yourself or others. Talking with a counselor can help you realize that someone else understands how you feel and that you are not alone. When you talk about your feelings with a counselor, you learn to understand yourself better.
When you have depression, it is not unusual to see your life in a distorted way. For example, you may think that you are not good enough, that others don't like you, or that you are the cause of bad things that are happening. A counselor can help you learn to look at these situations differently. Meeting with a counselor can also help you find ways to cope with tough situations and get a better understanding about things that are happening in your life.
Counseling can be done in a few different ways. It can be done with a group of teens together, which is called "group therapy"; with a teen and her family, which is called "family therapy"; or alone with a therapist, which is called "individual therapy." Sometimes a teen will participate in more than one of these kinds of counseling at a time.
- Medication. If your depression is causing problems in your life, or if you feel that counseling isn't helping enough, your health care provider may suggest medication. Depression is affected by the levels of certain chemicals in your brain. For many people with depression, taking medication helps the chemicals become more balanced, which makes you feel less depressed.
Sometimes the person you see for counseling will be able to prescribe medication, such as a doctor, a psychiatrist or a nurse practitioner. Other counselors, such as a clinical social worker or psychologist cannot prescribe medication, but will refer you to a mental health provider who can. If this is the case you will continue counseling sessions with your counselor and see the provider who writes your prescriptions less frequently.
There are many different medications that treat depression. If you decide to go on medication, it does not mean you will be on it for the rest of your life. Once you have been feeling better for a while, your counselor and your health care provider can talk about lowering the dose or stopping the medication. Remember that even if you are feeling better, you should always talk with your health care provider before making ANY changes with your medicine.
You might be concerned about taking medicine for your depression, or you might worry what other people think about it. But many people have found medication to be very helpful. It is very likely that you know and respect someone (such as a teacher, parent doctor or friend) who uses medication for depression, too. Taking medication for depression is just like taking medicine for a physical problem-it is just a way to help yourself get better.
- Day Programs and Hospitals. If you become so depressed that you have trouble with your every day life, or if you are having thoughts about hurting yourself, you may need more help than regular counseling sessions can give you. In this case, you may enter a day program or a hospital. In a day program, you arrive in the morning and spend the day in counseling, group discussions, and activities with mental health professionals and other patients. In a hospital you receive professional care all day and overnight. Both treatments can be very helpful for teens who are severely depressed. Sometimes these are options when you first feel depressed, or may be offered if you have been very depressed for a while and things have not gotten better.
A hospital is a place where you can get a lot of support and where mental health professionals can keep you safe. People don't have to be "crazy" to be in a hospital. Hospital programs have scheduled activities to help you understand your emotions and figure out how to manage the problems in your life. Often, your family will be involved in your hospital stay and they will get the help they need as well.
Written by the CYWH Staff at Children's Hospital Boston
Updated: 4/3/2009
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