Depressed mood, reticence, loss of interest, insomnia and dreams, reluctance to go out, palpitations, depression and pessimism... These conditions may not be as simple as being in a bad mood or unwell. Depression, once thought to be the only one available to adults, is becoming an "invisible killer" of adolescents' physical and mental health.
A depressed patient awaits treatment in the mental health department of the hospital
"It's as common as a cold"
According to the "Report on the Development of National Mental Health in China (2019-2020)" released by the Institute of Psychology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in March 2021, the detection rate of depression among adolescents in China in 2020 was 24.6%, of which mild depression was 17.2% and severe depression was 7.4%.
Xiaopi, daughter of Liao Lun (pseudonym), a citizen of Wuhan, Hubei Province, is one of the 24.6 percent. One day a year ago, Liao Lun suddenly received a call from a teacher, saying that a classmate had found Xiaopi cutting his wrist in the toilet. Speaking of the experience, he seems to be describing the film scene: "At that time, my first reaction was that it was impossible. But after arriving at school, Liao Lun had to accept reality.
Next, his daughter's answer to the question made him break out in a cold sweat. "It's not fun to be alive." He never imagined that such a sentence would come out of the mouth of his 12-year-old daughter.
For the only child, Liao Lun and his wife love it immensely. Liao Lun, who has his own company, has a harmonious and happy family and rich economic conditions; his wife who is a teacher attaches great importance to the cultivation of her children. In the eyes of everyone, Xiaopi is well-behaved and obedient, has excellent grades, and is the pride of his family.
However, the teacher told Liao Lun that Xiaopi had depression and was not light, so he quickly took a year off school and was hospitalized.
Liao Lun walked into the outpatient department of the Wuhan Mental Health Center with Xiaopi and found that there were not a few children like his daughter, and there was a long queue for registration. After some examination, Xiaopi was eventually diagnosed with depression. The doctor told Liao Lun, "It's as common as a cold."
Later, the daughter often said things like "let me go to school than let me die", leaving a series of cuts on her slender wrists; often locked herself in the room, sometimes crying inexplicably, and not eating or drinking for more than ten hours. Seeing the good daughter become like this, the whole family cried and dried up their tears.
After several rounds of treatment, at the request of teachers and doctors, Xiaopi chose to suspend school. "As long as she stops doing stupid things, we can cling to her." Liao Lun said that although today's daughter often hangs "death" on her lips, she fortunately does not put it into action, but only sleeps during the day, goes out at night, and returns home in the early morning. "What to do, who to be with, we don't know, and we don't dare to ask. Her mom and I waited for her to come home every morning. ”
Not squeamish, it's a disease
"Irritable, lack of interest and motivation; don't like to play anymore, easy to cry; love to say negative things, like to complain; difficult to fall asleep or sleep well." These are all early signs of depression. Li Yichen, deputy chief physician of the Wuhan Mental Health Center, said in an open course for primary and secondary schools in Wuhan that many parents found that their children had these problems and thought that their children were too squeamish and spoiled. In fact, this is an early sign of depression in children, mainly concentrated in adolescence, and earlier will be manifested in school age.
Of course, depression is not as simple as mood swings, and not all unhappiness and depression are depression. Many people face depression and may not even realize it's a disease.
Source: Visual China
"In recent years, it is not uncommon for teenagers to commit suicide due to depression, which is inseparable from the lack of correct understanding of depression in society, schools and families, the lack of understanding of the causes of depression, and the inability to detect and prevent it in time." Li Lijuan, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and associate professor of the Normal College of Qinghai University for Nationalities, said.
Li Lijuan's investigation believes that the causes of depression are very complex, and there are physiological reasons and social reasons. Adolescent children are more susceptible to stress than adults, and are more likely to overreact to stress even if they do not encounter any specific stressors.
In recent years, education, health and other departments have carried out a lot of work to prevent depression in adolescents, and a series of psychological education courses have also entered the campus. At present, primary and secondary schools have psychological counseling rooms and psychological counseling teachers, but the problem is that most of the psychological teachers are part-time teachers of other courses, and the professional knowledge of depression and anxiety disorders is insufficient, and they lack the ability to timely find, intervene and transfer professional institutions for treatment.
Depressed children should not be "left behind"
Li Lijuan has submitted a proposal on adolescent mental health issues at the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference for two consecutive years. In 2020, she proposed to carry out mental health screening for adolescents and children, and achieve early detection and early treatment through screening, and the proposal attracted the attention of relevant departments.
In November 2021, the Ministry of Education replied to the "Proposal on Further Implementing the Prevention and Treatment Measures for Adolescent Depression" at the Fourth Session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, clearly proposing to "strengthen the deployment of depression prevention and control, carry out various forms of education on the prevention and treatment of depression in adolescents, and establish a whole-process adolescent depression prevention and treatment service and evaluation system". In this regard, Li Lijuan said: "It is very gratifying to be able to attract the attention of relevant parties and society, and I hope that with the joint efforts of the whole society, every child will have a healthier body and mind." ”
"Any mental illness needs early identification, early detection, and early treatment, which is the only rule of scientific response." Liu Yurong, a national second-level psychological counselor, said that in the early stage of depression, it can be alleviated by psychological treatment, appropriate rest, increased activity and reduced stress, but if treatment is delayed, the disease may be aggravated, and children are prone to pessimism, self-denial, and even self-abandonment when serious.
For students with depression screened out, they should not simply ask for a full suspension of treatment. "It is not advisable to directly push the child into the family and return it to the parent." Liu Yurong said that this will make the child more pessimistic, and may also encounter the different eyes of classmates, thus becoming more isolated and helpless. Except for a few serious diseases, the more suitable way should be to go to school while treating, in the social life environment to help children out of the psychological haze.
Intervention for adolescent depression requires the trinity of society, school and family. "It's important to improve parents' mental health literacy." Li Lijuan said that the school can regularly hire experts inside and outside the school every semester to carry out education on the development of children's mental health, adolescent sex education, emotional problem identification and other education for parents, so as to achieve home-school linkage, early detection, early intervention, and scientific treatment.
Source: "Half Moon Talk", No. 1, 2022 Original title: "Good Child", How can I be depressed? Focus on adolescent depression
Half Moon Talk Reporter: Xu Haibo | Editor: Suya
Editor-in-charge: Guo Yanhui
Proofreader: Du Xiaojin (intern) Wang Jiayi (intern)