hi I am new to this. I have a teenage son suffering from depression and he had been doing realy good and now he is going back down and I do not know how to help him any more I feel as I am always running into a brick wall I am so emotionaly drained from all this and I feel as if noone understands what I am going through

Welcome to SFV saisabell,
can you think of a reason why he's doing worse ?
Did anything change in your lives recently ? Or at school ?

well we had to put our dog of 15yrs to sleep 2 wks ago he just inforomed this morning someone in his baseball class keeps picking on him making fun of him so I have e mailed the coach about it but every day something is wrong

quote:

Originally posted by --red--:
[qb] Welcome to SFV saisabell,
can you think of a reason why he's doing worse ?
Did anything change in your lives recently ? Or at school ? [/qb]

hard for me to say anything here,
I have no experience with depression especially with kids.
Maybe a change of scenery would help, a vacation for the 3 of you ?
How does his sis react to his problems ?

I've been dealing with depression for a long time. I think one of the best things my mom and dad ever did for me is put me in counsoling. I started when I was 14 or 15. At times I needed it more and other times less. But I think it was a bigger help at that age than any drug would have been. It was really hard for me to talk to my parents about it, so the counsoling was really good. At that age I thought every kid at my school didn't like me. Even though I had some great friends I still felt very alone. Just remember to keep the lines of communication open and seek outside help, so that this doesn't also burn you out.

my heart goes out to you saisa! I've never been on your side of this kind of ordeal, but for many years i was a severely depressed, suicidal teenager. All i think about now is, my poor mom, and how hard it must have been on her, never knowing what was going on with me or how to help me. But she sure tried, and looking back, even though at the time it didn't much help, i sure do appreciate how much she tried. As far as counseling goes, it never much helped me, but i think thats just b/c i never found the right person. If your son is already in counseling and it's not helping, maybe you should consider finding a different one, cause it's really got to be a good match for it to help i think. I also have a word of caution for you about using antidepressants. This was just my personal experience and u can take it for what its worth--from 13-15 i was on more different medicines than i can count, and they never helped because for me, i just had coping problems and emotional problems that had nothing to do with chemicals. But, being on all those doctor prescribed drugs that didn't help made me think one way---if medicating one's self is okay, and these drugs don't work, i think i'll find some that do. And i ended up getting heavily involved with street drugs for about 10 years, till i had my little girl. So my caution to you would be to make sure your son understands that drugs, whether legal or illegal, are not the answers to his problems. I also went thru cycles of getting better, then worse, better, worse, and honestly i still do, but not to the extremes that i did as a teenager, now that i actually have better life skills and thinking skills. Just remember this, it may be worse now, but just as it got better before, it will get better again. I can almost promise you that. teenagers take everything so hard, and depressed ones take it to the extreme, but i bet as he gets older, he'll level out some. By the way, how old is he? Well, hope this helps a little.

I agree with you Brae for anyone who is or thinks they are depressed the quick answer is not medication. There are other options which I believe should be tryed first. The young the age the more I must advise to try other alternatives that meds. I went to three different counsolers before settling on one.

counselling is the best 1st move, but medication is often a good treatment as well. the most effective treatment for depression combines the two, even for teens.