EBD Blog

Depression continues to be a common problem among adolescents in the US, and it also continues to go untreated, according to a report based on the National Survey on Drug Use and Health released by the Office of Applied Studies in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) late in December. The proportion of adolescents reporting depression increases with age (see Figure 1).

• In 2004, 9.0 percent of adolescents aged 12 to 17 (an estimated 2.2 million adolescents) experienced at least one major depressive episode (MDE) in the past year
• Among adolescents aged 12 to 17 who reported having experienced an MDE in the past year, less than half (40.3 percent) received treatment for depression during that time
• Adolescents who had experienced a past year MDE were more than twice as likely to have used illicit drugs in the past month than their peers who had not (21.2 vs. 9.6 percent)

Pardon my choice of words, but these data are pretty depressing. I am not sure whether educators can reduce the proportion of adolescents who experience a MDE, but at the least we ought to be do a better job of helping those who do experience depression. We need to develop and implement a program that helps educators spot the signs of depression among adolescents and sensitively refer those with symptoms for services. We need to provide support and appropriate services.

Link to HTML or PDF summary of the report