More
and more teens say they've had serious depression, researchers reported Monday.
But more are not being treated for it.
The
troubling trend suggests doctors are afraid to ask about and treat depression,
which is a major cause of suicide, the researchers said.
And
they say it's important to find out why rates are up.
"The
12-month prevalence of major depressive episodes increased from 8.7 percent in
2005 to 11.3 percent in 2014 in adolescents and from 8.8 percent to 9.6 percent
in young adults," Dr. Ramin Mojtabai of Johns Hopkins University and
colleagues wrote in their report published in the journal Pediatrics.
For
their report, Mojtabai and colleagues looked at surveys of more than 170,000
teens and another nearly 180,000 adults aged 18 to 25.
"Each
year almost one in 11 adolescents and young adults have a major depressive
episode," they wrote.
"The
prevalence of these episodes increased between 2005 and 2014."
Whites
and especially white girls were the most vulnerable, they found. It's not clear
why, but they have some guesses.
"Adolescent
girls may have been exposed to a greater degree to depression risk factors in
recent years," they wrote.
"For
example, cyberbullying may have increased more dramatically among girls than
boys. As compared with adolescent boys, adolescent girls also now use mobile
phones with texting applications more frequently and intensively and
problematic mobile phone use among young people has been linked to depressed
mood."
Yet
doctors are not reporting that they are treating more teens for depression.
That suggests more teens are going without any kind of treatment, the
researchers said.
In
part, that may be because of fears that antidepressant drugs may increase
suicide risk, although there is no clear-cut link.
It's
also possible the teens are not telling anyone. They are the ones who filled
out the surveys, not parents or doctors.
Source:
http://www.nbcnews.com
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