Troubled Teens Resources

Teens at risk that come from a home where one, or both, parents suffer depression are vulnerable to more stress and, not too surprisingly, weight gain.

A couple of factors play into this and, divorcing this information from the psychological jargon, it just is common sense. A parent fighting depression is often too fatigued and stretched so thin that they haven’t the will or reserves to see to it their child or teen are eating right or exercising. Depression exacerbates their ability to be sensitive to the needs of others, so it is not unexpected for parental depression to have a negative impact on the entire family.

“Children whose parents were struggling or who reported more problems with peers tended to have a lower overall score for quality of life. Both bullying and parent distress were linked to more depressive symptoms in children, and these symptoms seemed to be related to poorer quality of life.

“One of the pathways to poor quality of life seems to be childhood depression,” Janicke said. “If a parent is distressed, that seems to impact a child’s symptoms of depression, which then impacts quality of life….. And it seems to affect not just the emotional aspect of quality of life, but also their health status.”

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Depression was a factor in Barb’ decision to start looking into boarding schools for her teenage son. Barb had lost both her parents after long illnesses, both within a small span of time. Wading through funerals and selling her parents home had plunged Barb into an enervating depression.

“My mother was depressed and she never sought treatment. I don’t want Sean to have to wade through that kind of toxic soup. I’m lucky I can send him away while I work through this.”