Test 'predicts' teen depression risk

[Jazzy]

A tool for predicting the risk of clinical depression in teenage boys has been developed by researchers.

Looking for high levels of the stress hormone cortisol and reports of feeling miserable, lonely or unloved could find those at greatest risk.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge want to develop a way of screening for depression in the same way as heart problems can be predicted.

However, their method was far less useful in girls.

Teenage years and early adulthood are a critical time for mental health - 75% of disorders develop before the age of 24.

But there is no way to accurately say who will or will not develop depression.

Now researchers say they have taken the "first step" towards a screening tool.

Tests on 1,858 teenagers, reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, combined hormone levels and mood questionnaires to assess risk.

They showed that having both high cortisol levels and depressive mood symptoms posed a higher risk of depression than either factor alone and presented a risk of clinical depression 14 times that of those with low cortisol and no depressive symptoms.

Around one in six boys was in the high-risk category and half of them were diagnosed with clinical depression during the three years of study.

One of the researchers, Prof Ian Goodyer, said: "Depression is a terrible illness that will affect as many as 10 million people in the UK at some point in their lives.

"Through our research, we now have a very real way of identifying those teenage boys most likely to develop clinical depression.

Women are twice as likely as men to develop depression during their lifetimes, but the test was little help in determining risk.

One theory is that women naturally have higher cortisol levels, which affects their risk.

Full article

Have any of you whether you're male or female been diagnosed with clinical depression?

 

[DrLeftover]

Just from out here in the cheap seats, EVERYBODY experiences some depression during their lives. It is a normal part of the human condition.

However, that being said, and generally accepted as a good generalization, STAYING under the cloud of depression for an extended period of time and unable to otherwise function in a reasonable way to accomplish what needs done in daily life is NOT normal and may require professional treatment to get through.

And there is also the risk of falling into a cycle of appointments and drugs that is never ending, "Talk Therapy" is just as addictive as some of the medications, and can be just as expensive a habit to maintain.

Yes, I have, as is said on T-shirts, "been there, did that, saw the head shrinker, took the dope, QUIT seeing the head shrinker, and went back to work."

Flushing his pills down the toilet and canceling the next appointment was probably the biggest step I took to get over being a "patient whose stress related depression was aggravated by a heart condition" and back to being somebody I recognized as "me".

 

[Evil Eye]

I haven't and I'd like to keep it that way.

 

[Jazzy]

Flushing his pills down the toilet and canceling the next appointment was probably the biggest step I took to get over being a "patient whose stress related depression was aggravated by a heart condition" and back to being somebody I recognized as "me".

I'm very glad this worked for you. I would not, however, recommend others to flush pills down the toilet. Withdrawal symptoms could actually result in death. A slow process to wean a patient off medication is the best route to take.