A five year study conducted with thousands of local teenagers by University of Montreal researchers reveals that those who used speed (meth/ampthetamine) or ecstasy (MDMA) at fifteen or sixteen years of age were significantly more likely to suffer elevated depressive symptoms the following year. “Our findings are consistent with other human and animal studies that suggest long-term negative influences of synthetic drug use,” said co-author Frédéric N. Brière of the School Environment Research Group at the University of Montreal. “Our results reveal that recreational MDMA and meth/amphetamine use places typically developing secondary school students at greater risk of experiencing depressive symptoms.” Ecstasy and speed-using grade ten students were respectively 1.7 and 1.6 times more likely to be depressed by the time they reached grade eleven. [continue reading…]
Teen Depression
Teenagers who have minor depression are at a higher risk of mental health problems later in life.The BBC reports on a study from Columbia University.
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The British Journal of Psychiatry report said further research was needed to unpick the reasons for the link. continue reading
Source: BBC News
Related: Prevention of depression in adolescents
Does your teen have a bedtime? Did you? How do you enforce it?
According to a study led by Columbia University Medical Center researcher James Gangwisch teens whose parents let them stay up after midnight on weeknights have a much higher chance of being depressed or suicidal than teens whose parents enforce an earlier bedtime, the research is being presented today at a national sleep conference Link to continue reading
Source: USA Today
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Why don’t they undergo treatment? The answer depends whether you ask parents or the adolescents themselves, according to a study in the June issue of the journal Medical Care.
“With teenagers, treatment decisions greatly involve other parties, especially parents. For instance, teenagers often rely on adults for transportation. Doctors need a sense not just of what the teen thinks or what the parent thinks, but what both think,” said Lisa Meredith, Ph.D., lead author of the new study.
The ability of their physicians to address all the perceived barriers “affects the teenager’s own ability to acknowledge their depression and do something about it,” said Meredith, a reseacher at RAND.
Teens with untreated depression more often have social and academic problems, become parents prematurely, abuse drugs and alcohol and suffer adult depression and suicide. [continue reading…]
