Diagnosis is half the battle

Considering the high rate of treatment success for depression, it’s clear that lack of diagnosis is a large part of the problem. The best results, says Fassler, come from a combination of individual and family therapy and medication. Teenage depression goes undiagnosed most frequently because people assume that a heavy dose of Sturm und Drang comes with the territory, that mood swings are harmless and hormonal. Signs of depression to watch out for include an attraction to risk-taking—experimenting with drugs and alcohol, promiscuity and fast cars—as well as its opposite, extreme social withdrawal.

Dr. Allan Cooperstein, a clinical and forensic psychologist affiliated with Philadelphia’s Northwestern Hospital, works with depressed adults. He says that at the core of depressive behaviors and causes “is one single common denominator: It’s truly a depression of something.

“If you consider emotions to be a palate of colors, and an individual, through their socialization, is taught never to express anger, the anger is still there, but it’s internalized. It’s like they’ve been told never to use blue, so they have to depress it to keep it out of sight.”

For instance, if you came from a home where machismo ruled and you were taught to hide fear, you might become depressed, and the root of your depression would be fear.

“There are even examples,” says Cooperstein, “where happiness triggers depression. A journalist might feel happy every time she get something published, but then she may be assailed by fear that it will be the last article she will ever have published. This is like the kid who comes home with an A grade and whose parents say ‘make sure you get an A next time, too.’”

This sort of person will always sabotage their happiness, because deep down they suspect they don’t deserve it.

    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 9 Feb 2006
    Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.