9781422280362

Depression, Anxiety, and Bipolar Disorders

has seriously interfered with their schooling, social life, or other pursuits and caused them a lot of distress. Mood disorders are not as common: about 12 percent of teens have experienced either major depressive disorder or a milder form of depression called persistent depressive disorder, and only about 3 percent have had bipolar disorder. But mood disorders are much more likely to disrupt ordinary life. Depression severely impairs daily activities for nearly 3 out of 4 teens with depression (about 9 percent of all teens), and bipolar disorder causes major problems in the lives of almost all teens—about 9 out of 10—with the condition. Half of all teens with anxiety disorders first experience symptoms by the time they’re 6 years old, and half with mood disorders experience symptoms

Although we think of depression as being similar to sadness, it doesn’t always look that way; especially in younger kids, depression is sometimes expressed as anger.

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