You are here

Signs of depression in young teens???

Laurenx3's picture

Without me going into to much detail yet can ANYONE here with Experience with young teen (13-14) Depression tell me what are some classic symptoms? I'm not just talking about normal Grumpy teens but classic depression that should be treated.   "Experience" can be Your own childhood, your own kids/steps, family or job related. 

Dogmom1321's picture

SD10 has been diagnosed with depression and generalized anxiety. When given a social situation, SD isolates herself. For example, we had a birthday party for her and kids in the neighborhood came. She went inside to sit by herself. She avoids eye contact and does not initiate speaking first. She has very low self esteem. She thinks everyone else is better than her. She constantly calls herself "dumb, ugly, and fat." She says "no one would me miss if I'm gone." 

DH has tried getting her into therapy. He has taken her for multiple sessions, then BM finds out. BM is opposed to all medication and says "______ is only like that because of your wife." BM struggles herself with the same issues, but just lives in denial. BM has tie-breaker for medical decision making, so basically our hands are tied. It's sad to watch. 

Laurenx3's picture

SS14 has been Diagnosed with a mood Disorder/depression/Anxiety. BM fights this Diagnosis from day one. Why? Because BM wants SS to get into a good college and not be Labeled. SS14 has been Evaluated by a number of psychiatrists and they all say the same. BM still just thinks it's because DH "spoils" SS and not a Mental disorder that cause SS's Violent outbreaks and crying temper tantrums. Guess BM knows more then the 6 therapists that Evaluated SS. Of course it does NOT help BM tells SS that DH thinks he's got a "mental condition" and BM thinks SS is Perfectly fine. I'm sure this does not help SS's Depression his mother telling him his father thinks he is a nut. 
 

Our biggest fight now is BM is telling SS his Psychiatric Medication is making him not grow or eat well. So now SS has a image problem 

tog redux's picture

Mental health issues are on the rise in teenagers, and depression is common - why in the world does BM think having a psychiatric diagnosis will stop him from getting into college?

Does the therapist know she does all of this? It borders on a CPS call, especially if she doesn't give him his medication.

Rags's picture

It is hard enough on kids to transit through their teens with decent parents.  Kids who are cursed with a mother like this one have it so much harder.

I feel for this kid.  

It is good that dad seems to be getting him some help.

Kes's picture

I feel certain I had clinical depression from about age 11 until about 15, although it was not diagnosed.  It manifested in insomnia, lack of confidence, general sadness and low mood, I would cry a lot, and I had OCD.  

Your BM is obviously making things a lot worse than they would otherwise be. 

Laurenx3's picture

No DH has NOT said anything to SS's therapist because BM will Deny most of it and it will just stress SS out even more. 
 

SS has lost interest in doing almost everything. All he wants to do is play video games. DH thinks it's a way for SS to Escape from his problems. Yes we force SS to do other things but he hates it and only doing it because we are making him. SS gets no enjoyment out of it. 
 

Now we know this is not all BM's fault but her Denial of SS's mental illness most Certainly making SS worse. 
 

So sad to see happen and DH feels the older SS gets the harder things will be for SS to snap out of it. Not really sure what we can do

Dogmom1321's picture

Absolutely! During one of the sessions SD went to, she told her therapist video games (Roblox, Youtube, etc.) help her not think about her mom. Apparently, SD constantly worries about BM hurting herself and empathizes that BM has lost both her mom and dad. 

I personally think SD "looking for an esacpe" is VERY troublesome. Things like this often turn into drug/alcohol abuse later in life becuase of the inability to deal with problems head on. I'm no expert, but just some research I have read... come to find out it can be genetic as well. BM has suffered from drug problems and teen pregnancy (her 1st child from a different marriage)... I just worry SD will be more likely to be predisposed to those conditions since her BM was/is,