According to a report issued by the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration (1989):
Almost 30,000 Americans take their own lives each year. . .This number is greater than the annual number of homicides in the United States. . .About 5,000 suicides occur among young people between the ages of 15 and 24. That means that each day, 13 Americans in this age group kill themselves. Many more young people attempt suicide and fail. (p. 7)
It is statistics such as the foregoing that lead authors such as Harris and Ammerman (1986) to refer to adolescent depression as one of the most serious mental health concerns facing the nation. According to these authors, depression in children and adolescents is often related to academic and social problems.
However, Giffin and Felsenthal (1983) have noted that serious depression in adolescents can have additional causes, such as loss of a parent or good friend, or loss of more internal factors such as self-respect or self-esteem. Regardless of the reasons for the depression, Giffin and Felsenthal point out that it will almost always be accompanied by feelings of failure and a lack of self confidence.
The problem of depression in adolescence evidences a clear need for effective intervention aimed at remediating the condition. According to Eddy, Wolpert and Rosenberg (1989) intervention for depression commonly takes one of six forms:
(1) affective education aimed at helping youth understand and cope with the types of problems that can lead to depression; (2) early identification programs aimed at identifying high risk youths;
(3) school-based screening programs;
4) crisis centers affording both individual and group therapy and hotlines;
(5) providing better training and education on youth depression and its connectedness to suicide to health care professionals; and
(6) if depression is sufficiently severe as to make suicide a concern, restriction of ...