{"id":12335,"date":"2018-06-06T02:41:37","date_gmt":"2018-06-06T02:41:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=12335"},"modified":"2018-06-07T02:45:41","modified_gmt":"2018-06-07T02:45:41","slug":"teenage-depression-if-a-parent-doesnt-get-treatment-for-a-child-is-that-abuse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/teenage-depression-if-a-parent-doesnt-get-treatment-for-a-child-is-that-abuse\/","title":{"rendered":"Teenage depression: If a parent doesn’t get treatment for a child, is that abuse?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael Shapiro<\/a>, University of Florida<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Hospital visits for kids in the U.S. who have contemplated or thought about suicide<\/a> have risen sharply. <\/p>\n

As a child and adolescent psychiatrist, I am not surprised. For years, I ran a child psychiatric hospital, where we treat kids after they attempt suicide. Usually, by the time I diagnose a teenager with depression, it is almost too late. Almost. It\u2019s estimated that one in five teens will have depression, but two-thirds of them will go undiagnosed<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Lack of screening for depression is one part of the problem in children\u2019s mental health, and efforts are underway to improve screening and detection<\/a> for depression. Access to care is another problem, as there is a severe shortage of child psychiatrists in our country<\/a>. Parents may also not see symptoms of a mental health problem or not be aware of how severe the problem is, due to lack of knowledge or understanding of depression in children. <\/p>\n

These are several barriers to treatment, which are unfortunate. However, one barrier that is rarely addressed is when parents ignore obvious signs of depression or just don\u2019t want help. Studies have noted that between 12-26 percent of parents<\/a> reported not wanting or needing help, or being unwilling to seek help for a child\u2019s depression.<\/p>\n

I authored a paper<\/a>, published May 31, in which I ask: Would it be considered child abuse for a parent to not get medical help for their depressed teen?<\/p>\n

A serious illness, often experienced in loneliness<\/h2>\n
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\n Teens often experience depression far longer than their parents realize.<\/span>
\n polya_olya\/Shutterstock.com<\/a><\/span>
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In my experience, teens experience depression for much longer than their parents are aware. There are several reasons for this, including the stigma of mental illness, and teens not being forthcoming because they blame themselves for feeling depressed and don\u2019t want to upset their parents.<\/p>\n

In fact, feeling like things are your fault<\/a> is one of the symptoms of depression. We are lucky if a teen tells their parent they are feeling depressed or a parent sees warning signs and brings their child for an evaluation, because the depression is likely far more severe than the parent realizes. Sometimes, we\u2019re not as lucky. <\/p>\n

In my experience, many children who attempt suicide never have been evaluated or treated for depression before. After a child attempts suicide and a parent starts to understand and learn about depression, most parents are willing to do anything to help their child. But in some cases, this doesn\u2019t happen. <\/p>\n

This is incredibly hurtful to teens who ask for treatment and the message they get is their suffering is not important enough to treat.<\/p>\n

Depression is the deadliest disease of childhood<\/h2>\n
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