Ways To Help Your Teenager Overcome Depression

I was surprised to see a group of teenage parents at the office of a psychologist in New York, who were worried about their children being depressed due to failures in life. This made me feel that depression was no longer malice of adults; parents of teenagers could definitely help them overcome depression due to failure.

A few ways by which we can help teenagers overcome depression:

• It is first important to help your teenager set short term goals by talking to your teenager about what he/she wants. These goals should be attainable; setting unattainable goals may reinforce the fact that he/she is a failure and make one gloomy and depressed. Next he/she should be helped to find suitable steps to achieve the goals. The vital point to be remembered is that the teenager should feel he/she is equal to the challenge of achieving the goal.

• Encourage your teenager at every step and help him/her to achieve the goal; encourage independence and a sense of achievement. Do not do everything for him/her. If he wishes to take part in a competition, help him practice and work for it without giving him false hopes for success or failure.

• Your depressed teenager could also fail in reaching the goals set; it is best to neither to make an issue of it nor brush it aside as something minor. Smart parents would acknowledge his/her failure and discuss what went wrong and how remedial steps could be taken in future. The failure could be because one did not study or work hard, or due to one giving up very easily or due to a panic attack that one would not be successful. Once the reasons for the failure come into the open, it would be easy to correct any misconceptions as well as work on remedial measures for the future.   

• Resist the temptation to compare your teenager with his/her peers; this would only strengthen the belief that he/she is not good enough even you. Each person is unique, so accept him/her as he/she is; teach your teenager to admire others and learn from them without envying them or feeling low. You, as a parent could reinforce this habit by admitting that though another teenager is good in something, he/she is also good in some other thing.

• Your depressed teenager may not trust his/her own judgment and     may vacillate; they may need to be reassured that they are making the right decisions. Parents can reassure these teenagers to make decisions and trust their own judgment; these teenagers can be told to go over their decisions once they have made it and also be ready to take the consequences of their judgment.

• Lastly you could spice up helping your teenagers through depression by buying him/her tickets for concerts or taking them on short holidays. You need to spend quality time with them to help them overcome depression to feel empowered to accomplish goals set by him/her.   

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