Parents worried about differentiating normal adolescent highs and lows from actual depression will be relieved to find a helpful new guide on the topic, writes Nuala Macklin
'A lot of the time I wished that I wasn't alive. You just felt that everything and everyone would be all right if you weren't there. I felt guilty when people were taking time out of their own routine to help me and I didn't feel I was worth it. It made me really sad.
I was pretty worried then because the Junior Cert was coming up that year and I felt I'd be letting everyone down if I didn't get good results. I felt there was no reason to get out of bed. I didn't try or even begin to try, but I did definitely consider ending my life.
"At my very worse point, I can remember clearly asking my mother to kill me. I really believed that it would help her, which is a ridiculous thing to think when I look back."
These are the words of Damian who suffered from a severe bout of depression at the age of 15. Two years on and now a tall and handsome young man, he enjoys life to the full and has just completed a successful and enjoyable school year.
His mother Veronica recalled the change in her son's behaviour at the time. "The first thing I noticed was that he was not wanting to go to school.
"He complained of having a sick tummy. I knew there was some tension in school among the boys who were forming groups in the class.
"Damian didn't want to get involved. It was a form of bullying and he didn't have the skills to stand up to the pressure. His only option was to pull back.
"Eventually he stopped going to school and didn't want to get out of bed. He became really listless and couldn't sleep.
"I got extremely worried when he dropped out of school completely. I phoned a teacher who suggested that I bring Damian to a psychiatrist.
"We had moved house around that time, and the teachers were on strike that year which added to his anxiety around the forthcoming exams. He was prescribed anti-depressant medication as part of his treatment.
"Everyone needs support from time to time and if that's the support that's needed, it can be very helpful in reducing anxiety and make them able to re-connect with the world. I knew he had lost touch with me and the world around him."
According to Carol Fitzpatrick, professor of child psychiatry at UCD, "being the parent of a depressed young person can be a very daunting, overwhelming experience. Depression is a common problem affecting about 5 per cent of teenagers and 2 per cent of younger children.
"It often produces dramatic and frightening changes in young people's behaviour, emotional responses and relationships with those closest to them."
Depression can sometimes be linked to losses of various kinds, for example, the loss of a parent through separation, death or divorce, loss of self-esteem through bullying, abuse or failure, or living in a situation of family conflict or where a parent is struggling with a mental health problem such as alcoholism or depression.
Parents who are worried that their adolescent might be suffering from depression may find the recently published handbook Coping with Depression in Young People by Carol Fitzpatrick and John Sharry a good starting point.
It costs 14.95 and offers a general guide on how to distinguish ordinary adolescent highs and lows from actual depression, and examines its causes and treatment.
The guide also includes some useful accounts by adolescents who have come through what is often described as a gruelling and sometimes life-threatening experience.
Contact the AWARE helpline on 1890-303-302. The helpline is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Calls are charged at the local rate from anywhere in the country.