Teenage Depression Statistics

Teenage depression statistics in the present day do not make for good reading at all.

Teenage depression was almost unheard of until ten or fifteen years back, but suddenly, there has been an extremely alarming increase in the rate of teenage depression.

Teenage depression seems to affect teens across the world equally. In the United States alone, teenage depression has been increasing by the year.

• Documented statistics and data available indicated 20 teens out of every 100 suffer from depression before they reach the age of 18.
  
  
• On an average, around 2 percent of teens suffer from dysthymia, which is depression that lasts for several months or years but is not very severe.
  
  
• Also, chances of teens developing bipolar disorder in later years have become extremely common. Most untreated teen patients suffering from dsythymia eventually suffer from bipolar depression.
  
  
• A small but significant number of teens also suffer from seasonal affective depression, or SAD, that is experienced during winter, especially in high altitude regions.
  
  
• Nearly 5 percent of teenagers suffer from severe depression or major depression at any given time, and this number is increasing with every passing year. This is quite a worrying teenage depression statistic.
  
  
• Around 8.3 percent of teenagers experience depression for about a year, which is close to twice the percentage of depression experienced by the general adult population. This teenage depression statistic reveals the prolonged low period which depressed teens go through.
  
  
• About 70 percent of teens suffer from more than a single episode of depression before the age of 18, and around 20 to 40 percent of teens experience more than one episode in two years. Therefore, most teens experience depression more than once before reaching adulthood. (These statistics presumably apply to those who do suffer from depression before the age of 18.)
  
  
• Nearly 20 to 50 percent of teens suffering from depression have a family history of depression or other mental conditions.
  
  
• Nearly 30 percent of teens suffering from depression cultivate substance abuse problems. This could be accompanied by alcohol consumption, too.
  
  
• Documented evidence and reports suggest that the percentage of girls suffering from depression is also much higher and is almost double the number when compared to boys.
  
  
• Depression in teens is generally triggered off due to social acceptance issues and / or physical trauma or abuse during childhood or during their teens.

Other teenage depression statistics and data available indicate that teens who suffer from depression are at a higher risk of the following:

• Engaging themselves in sexual habits without care and precaution, leading to unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted conditions.
  
  
• Severe untreated cases of teen depression end up committing suicide, and statistics available indicate that nearly 90 percent of suicide cases suffer depression or other mental conditions. This is certainly another worrying teenage depression statistic.
  
  
• Only 33 percent of teenagers get professional help and an even lesser percentage actually follow-through with the treatment and recover completely.

Suicide

Statistics also reveal that nearly 1 in every 5 teenagers harbor suicidal thoughts; 1 in every 6 teenagers actually plan their suicide; and more than 1 in 12 teenagers attempt suicide in any given year.

Also, close to 8 out of 10 teenagers who attempt or commit suicide seek some kind of help prior to committing suicide.

Conclusion

Many of the abovementioned teenage depression statistics, in particular the ones on suicide, are extremely alarming. With numbers continuing to escalate, it is clear that we as a society have plenty of work to do in extending help to depressed teens and dealing with this worrying issue.

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Useful Depression Resources