Specializing in Depression within Adolescents
Isolation
Some people struggle socially and lack the communication skills needed to meet new people. This can lead to you feeling anxious or not good enough. Alternatively, others may have no problems meeting new people but may struggle in other ways such as letting people get close to us. This is particularly common if you have experienced bullying or have been let down in a previous relationship.
This is often a normal part of adolescence, remember you are not alone. It may become a problem if you develop symptoms of depression, such as feeling worthless, or that it starts to affect your day to day living.
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In IPT-A we spend time thinking about this together during the assessment phase. We can think about what is preventing you from having satisfying relationships and work towards building your confidence in relationships by developing more helpful communication skills and feeling more able to identify and communicate your feelings to others.
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The idea is better relationships lead you to feeling happier and more able to enjoy life.
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Conflict
No relationship is perfect but sometimes a relationship at home or at school can get really stuck in arguments or disagreements and it may become upsetting to be part of it. You might start to feel hopeless about finding a way to sort it out. There’s no doubt that COVID and the restrictions having being placed on us may have had a big impact upon a relationship particularly if we have spent more or less time with a particular person.
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IPT-A helps to identify at what stage a dispute/conflict is and whether it can be fixed. If not you can supported to morn the loss of that relationship if needed and think about how that makes you feel. If it is decided it is worth putting time and energy into mending the relationship I can help you to develop better ways to communicate and express how you are feeling. This may involve thinking more about how others feel and think?
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The idea is by reducing conflict and improving your relationship, this will lead to you to feeling happier and more able to enjoy life.
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Coping with Change
As an adolescent you will naturally experience a lot of change. This may include changing from a child to puberty and the transition to adulthood. You may go through changing education or friendship groups, clubs, etc.
These changes are to be expected and normally handled well. However, sometimes there can be problems experienced through these natural changes. You may find that your parents/carers struggle with your increasing independence and you argue over curfews or boundaries for example. There can also be unexpected changes such as becoming a teenage parent, an illness in the family, parental separation, and so on.
Breakdown of intimate relationships with a partner can be especially hard as it may be your first experience of such loss. Problems may arise when you feel overwhelmed and unable to cope, or when it affects your day to day life. You may develop symptoms of depression and need help.
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If this feels familiar. IPT-A can help you to think about what you have lost, help you to deal with how the change happened, and look for opportunities in your new role so that you can begin to feel better and start to enjoy life again.
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Grief
Sometimes it is just so difficult that we struggle to adjust to life without that person we have lost and it is as if we put life on hold because we miss them so much. This makes it really hard to be close to other people that are around us. This can lead to becoming depressed.
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It is thought teenagers grieve slightly differently than adults in that you may try to continue with your usual activities such as school/college seeing your friends etc. Grief can be expressed in failing in education, being angry, and experience psychosomatic symptoms (feeling physical discomfort and pain, headaches, etc).
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IPT cannot bring back the person you have lost, but it can help you to navigate the grieving process and help you feel less depressed.
If you find you are having problems in education and getting into more trouble IPT-A can help you with this by using your friends and family to support you.