Ways to help manage your adolescent's depression
- Honor your adolescent's feelings. Listen, acknowledge those feelings, and take them
seriously
- Use encouraging statements rather than punishment
- Focus on consequences rather than punishment. For example, if your adolescent breaks
a lamp during a temper tantrum, use a logical consequence (like having your adolescent
help glue the lamp back together or use his or her allowance to have the lamp repaired)
rather than issuing an unrelated punishment (like sending your adolescent to his
or her room for the rest of the evening)
- Help your adolescent build a "feeling vocabulary" that will help him or her talk
about feelings with you
- Show unconditional love and support
- Encourage your adolescent to engage in activities he or she enjoys, and suggest
doing them together
- Create good sleeping habits. Help your adolescent stick to a consistent bedtime,
stop caffeine intake such as chocolate and cola beverages 4 to 6 hours before bedtime,
stop alcohol use and encourage regular exercise
Helping your adolescent take antidepressant medication
- Give medications to your adolescent exactly as prescribed. That includes the correct
dosage at the right time(s) of day. Ask your adolescent's healthcare professional what
to do if a dose has been missed
- Make arrangements with your adolescent's teacher, nurse, or school counselor if
medications need to be taken at school
- Watch for side effects. Check each day to see if your teen is experiencing any negative
effects. Families and caregivers should alert the healthcare professional right away
of worsening depression symptoms, suicidal thinking and behavior, or unusual changes
in behavior especially during the first few months of treatment or whenever there
is a change in dose, either increase or decrease.
- Don't increase or decrease the dosage by yourself. A healthcare professional is the
only person who can change your adolescent's dosage
Helping your adolescent stick with the treatment plan
- Adolescents may not like feeling different from their peers. They want to fit in,
so it might be helpful for them to have someone to talk to and encourage them to
stick with their treatment plan. Adolescents may not like having to take medication
to help them feel better
- Some adolescents may want to stop taking their medication when they start to feel
better. Sometimes they believe they have been "cured" from depression just like
an antibiotic can cure an infection. Explain that antidepressant medication doesn't
work that way, and encourage your adolescent to continue taking the medication exactly
as prescribed. Discuss all medication decisions as a team—with both your adolescent
and the healthcare professional. It will help your adolescent understand the treatment
and how it may help him or her and may also improve the likelihood that he or she
sticks with it
What happens when treatment doesn't work?
If you do not see evidence of improvement in your adolescents in 6 to 8 weeks, you
should make an appointment with your adolescent's healthcare professional.
NEXT: IMPORTANT THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW