While anxiety and depression occur in both genders, the rate at which they do so varies throughout the course of development. During childhood, boys and girls experience mood disorders with a similar level of prevalence—around three to five percent—but this changes profoundly by the age of about 15-16. As young people move into mid-adolescence, girls appear to become much more prone to mood disorders than boys, with 14 to 20 percent of the teenage female population being diagnosed (as compared to about 7-10 percent of the teenage male population).
It is not yet known for certain what causes this disparity, but differing rates of maturation likely have much to do with it. Brain scans have shown that girls mature much more quickly than boys in terms of how they process emotional stimuli, which would appear to align with the fact that the prevalence of mood disorders in teenage girls matches the prevalence generally found in adults.
While this rapid rate of maturation was likely beneficial in the distant past, when teenage girls were frequently entrusted with the duty of raising children, in the modern era it often leads to an enhanced sensitivity which makes the turbulent teen years all the more challenging to endure.
Recognizing the Symptoms of Depression in Teenage Girls
Teenagers, be they male or female, often eschew talking to their parents about how they feel, making it important to recognize the altered habits which often signify depression.
The first sign of depression is generally social withdrawal, followed by a loss of interest in formerly pleasurable activities. At the same time, the teen usually exhibits changes in mood (with an overall trend toward negative states, such as sadness and irritability), appetite, energy level, sleep patterns, and academic performance. While it's true that many teens will show at least one of these symptoms during the course of normal development, the presence of three or more at any given time should be treated as grounds to suspect the presence of a mood disorder.
If parents observe the aforementioned symptoms, it's important to act quickly; often by the time the adolescent is showing obvious signs of being depressed, she has in reality been depressed for some time. Likewise, she herself may not realize that she is depressed or to what extent; depression is an “internalizing” illness rather than “externalizing” one (i.e. it seldom presents in the form of disruptive behaviour) and tends to come on gradually, so the sufferer may not understand that her thinking and emotional responses have become profoundly disturbed.
Note that depression tends to take on one of two forms: Major depressive disorder, which presents as severe episodes of “typical” depression (involving all of the common symptoms associated with clinical depression) which often last from seven to nine months, and dysthymic disorder. In dysthymic disorder, symptoms present in a milder manner and are often thus harder to detect, but they can last for years at a time, which has serious implications for a teenager. Left undetected, dysthymic disorder may seriously hinder a teenager's development, and last well into her adult years.
Understanding Anxiety in Teenage Girls
Anxiety can be even harder to detect than depression because its roots lie in a normal mechanism of the brain which exists to tell the body when it's in danger, and it often takes years for “normal” anxiety to grow into “problem” anxiety (where anxiety is chronically, disproportionately too great for the situation at hand). Too, if the teen experiencing anxiety was also an anxious child, she will probably have already her tailored her life to revolve around her anxiety (focusing on “safe” people, places, and activities).
Once again, severely altered patterns are often the key to detecting the point at which a nervous child crosses over into being a teen with an anxiety disorder; when a teen's anxiety begins to interfere with her ability to function socially and academically and to enjoy her life, it can be said to have become disordered. Likewise, teenagers experiencing disordered anxiety often do not respond to reassurance.
The Importance of Early Intervention
In addition to bringing about the cessation of suffering, early intervention is essential to prevent teens from developing lifelong issues. As the adolescent years are so crucial to building the foundation for adult life, problems during this time which hinder development (through inducing low energy, poor concentration, and withdrawal) can easily impact the quality of a teen's future.
There are also lasting emotional consequences to untreated mood disorders; poor social and academic performance often harms self esteem along with crippling a girl's ability to form nurturing adult relationships, which in turn causes depression and anxiety to become worse over time. Likewise, what begins as anxiety may become depression through the mechanisms of worsening self-worth and increasing isolation, and what begins as depression may coalesce into anxiety owing to self-doubt, fear, and uncertainty.
And of course, sometimes mood disorders escalate sharply into serious symptoms and related conditions, such as suicidal thinking or behaviour, eating disorders, self-harm, and substance abuse.
Suicide, which is currently the third leading cause of death among adolescents and young adults aged 15 to 24, often results from the presence of an unrecognized, undiagnosed mood disorder. While substance abuse is a complex and multifaceted issue, research suggests there is also a strong correlation between teenage substance abuse and mood disorders. Girls in particular also face a higher risk of developing an eating disorder or resorting to self-injury and, though the exact link between these behaviours and mood disorders is still being explored (mood disorders do not always appear to be the cause of them), there is nevertheless often a degree of overlap present.
Treating Anxiety and Depression
Fortunately, mood disorders often respond to timely intervention; with the aid of health care professionals, many teen girls experiencing anxiety and/or depression can return to living full, satisfying lives.
Anxiety and depression are usually treated through the use of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), which parents may need to help administer, depending on the age of the child. CBT aims to “re-train” the brain away from negative patterns of thought, so that children cease to view themselves and the world around them with an inherently negative bias. Once children cease to habitually predict negative outcomes, the symptoms of anxiety and depression often lessen dramatically.
Not all cases of anxiety and depression are fully treatable using CBT, however; sometimes these mood disorders have a biological component, and treating that aspect of the illness may require medication. If depression and/or anxiety is in the category of moderate to severe, a combination of psychotherapy and medication is usually the most effective course of treatment.