Emotions run wild during the teenage years, and there is no stopping that.
For most, the highs and lows tend to balance out after a yearslong roller-coaster ride. But for a significant number of others, the suffering during those low periods can lead to full-blown depression.
An estimated 11.4% of U.S. adolescents, or about 2.8 million people, had at least one “major depressive episode” in a 12-month period, according to the 2014 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. The report, prepared for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, adds that this number has grown in recent years.
Some members of the psychiatric community favor responding to this problem with universal screening of teens for symptoms of depression to catch problems and start treatment early. But others fear this will lead to overdiagnosis, thus creating more problems than it solves, as doctors and drug companies focus unnecessary attention on what the critics see as normal growing pains.
[For more of this story go to http://www.wsj.com/articles/sh...epression-1460340172]
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