Signs Of Depression in Teens

Adolescence naturally brings about mood changes, increased sensitivity, a desire for privacy, and periods of withdrawal or more alone time. While these are developmentally expected experiences, they can also be signs of depression, so it can be difficult to tease apart what’s going on.

What you want to keep an eye on is the intensity, duration, and the impact on their day-to-day life. Depression tends to involve more persistent patterns such as ongoing sadness or numbness, loss of interest in activities, social withdrawal, changes in appetite or sleep, hopelessness, or decline in school performance.

If the changes feel significant, prolonged, or are interfering with their day-to-day functioning, it’s worth taking seriously.

A mental health professional can help determine whether what your teen is experiencing falls within the range of typical teen behaviour or whether therapy for depression may be helpful.

Even if your teen is not experiencing depression, individual therapy is still helpful to deal with the “expected,” though still difficult, changes of adolescence.

Some teens might not know that what they’re experiencing is depression, while others who know might struggle with feelings of shame and guilt. Overall, it’s important to provide a non-judgemental and safe space where they feel accepted and loved. Ask open-ended questions about what it feels like for them.

Remind them you’re available to talk about anything they want to share, that you can handle it. You’re welcome to book a parenting support session or have your teen see a therapist on our team.

At our clinic we provide psychotherapy. Our therapists are trained in a variety of different evidence-based therapeutic approaches and use them flexibly based on your teens needs and goals. You’ll find our team to be warm, welcoming and good at what they do.

For more general concerns, our team is highly equipped to help.

For specific concerns such as eating disorders, substance use, neurodivergence and so forth, please get in touch with our admin team and they’ll help you find a therapist with specialization in the particular area you need.

For teens living with depression, there can be different situations that require urgent care. For example, related eating disorders or substance use disorders may require urgent care or medical stabilization.

Teens who are actively experiencing suicidal ideation with immediate risk of harm to themselves also require urgent care. If your child is self-harming, we recommend reading this blog post by Jennie Benjamins to help you decide whether they need urgent care.

However, this is not an exhaustive list and in general, urgent care is recommended when you have concerns for their immediate safety.

It’s important to be consistently available to them and gently check-in, without being over-bearing or putting your own anxiety on your child.

Since this is so nuanced for each family, we recommend you book a parent counselling session or family therapy session to get support figuring out how to show up for your teen in the most supportive way.

Ensuring your home is safe for your child is the priority. Violence or a high degree of conflict is deeply distressing for teens and needs to be addressed. Additionally, being thoughtful about how you regulate and manage your own emotional responses helps create a calmer environment for your teen to exist.

Depending on how your communication with your teen is, you can also try directly asking them what might make things feel more comfortable at home. If things are not feeling comfortable and connected at home, family therapy could be extremely helpful.

You might also wish to pursue parent counselling as a support.