Kate Scowen - My Kind of Sad: What Its Like to Be Young and Depressed

This book contains general reference information about depression in youth. It is not intended as a substitute for the advice of a trained medical professional. Readers should not attempt to diagnose or treat themselves or their children based on the material contained in this book, but rather should consult an appropriate medical or psychiatric professional before starting or stopping any medication and before implementing any other therapy discussed in this book. The authors and publisher are not responsible for any adverse effects resulting from the information contained in this book.

2006 Kate Scowen (text)
with editorial input from Allen Flaming
2006 Jeff Szuc (cover and interior art)
Cover and interior design by Sheryl Shapiro
Cover image: istockphoto Inc./Eva Serrabassa

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This edition published in 2012 by
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We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund (CBF) for our publishing activities.

Cataloging in Publication

Scowen, Kate

My kind of sad : what its like to be young and depressed /
Kate Scowen ; art by Jeff Szuc.

Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-55037-941-9 (bound)
ISBN-10: 1-55037-941-0 (bound)
ISBN-13: 978-1-55037-940-2 (pbk.)
ISBN-10: 1-55037-940-2 (pbk.)

1. Depression, MentalJuvenile literature. 2. Depression in
adolescencePopular works. I. Szuc, Jeff II. Title.

RC537.S38 2006 j616.8527 C2005-906896-5

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Contents

by Dr. M. Korenblum

Acknowledgments

This book is a reflection of the many youth and parents who took the time to meet with me and speak about their experiences with adolescence, moodiness, and depression. I would like to thank all of themwithout their stories this book would seem empty. I would also like to thank the many youth workers, doctors, and therapists who connected me with youth and who facilitated the interview process.

While there are so many who offered advice, support, and insight, two people in particular require special mention here. Dr. Marshall Korenblum, Chief Psychiatrist at Hincks-Dellcrest Centre for Children in Toronto, provided professional guidance that ensured clinical accuracy and sensitivity. He also contributed to the text in the treatment section and produced the afterword, which offers practical information and links to resources. Allen Flaming offered his friendship and support throughout the conception, researching, and writing of this book. His editorial and professional input helped to make sense of an overwhelming amount of information. Many thanks to both of you.

For Sydney, Hatley, and Quinn
K.S.

This book is about a lot more than depression. Itsabout being an adolescent and how that shapes you.Its about what happens when your moods andhabits move beyond the everyday and become harmful.And its about how to recognize that and knowwhen to get some help.

We all get moody sometimes. Our moods can fluctuate throughout the day without much warning. Depending on what is happening in our lives, our moods can be more visible sometimes than at other times. Its all part of being human. Imagine a world without moods or emotionsno laughing at funny jokes, no crying when your feelings are hurt, no anger when someone pushes you, no fear watching a scary moviewhat a boring world that would be.

When youre little, chances are your emotions and moods are managed by your parents. If you fall and hurt yourself, they pick you up and brush you off. If someone hurts your feelings, they mediate the conflict for you and help to restart your friendship. As an adolescent, this begins to change. Not only do you want your parents to be less involved, they just arent around as much. Youre probably spending more time at school and more time with your friends. This all happens at a time when you are going through some major physical and emotional changes.

Your brain and your body are both changing in weird and wonderful ways. Now you have to figure out how to navigate the world on your own at a time when youre experiencing some serious inner chaos. This can be stressful and can certainly affect your moods. In this way, moodiness is a normal part of adolescence. The relationship between your moods, the world around you, and your life as an adolescent is explored in .

Depression is more than moodiness; it is a mood disorder. A mood disorder is different from moodiness in that it is not a phase or something that will necessarily pass on its own. Depression may have one specific clinical description, but its really so many different things. We get a real glimpse of this through the personal stories of youth who generously contributed to this book. Moodiness, depression, anxiety, mania, eating disorders, self-harming, substance abuse, and suicide are some of the issues that came up in their stories. These issues and their connection with adolescent depression are presented in .

A friend may be able to cheer you up when youre feeling sad, but if you are clinically depressed or struggling with another mood disorder, you need to get some professional help. That help can come in a variety of forms, and you may need to spend some time finding out what suits you best. Different kinds of therapies and treatments are discussed in .

This book is not going to give you a quick fix for depression or some magic formula for getting through adolescence. There is none. What this book will do is tell you what depression is and how it is different from being sad. I hope it will make you think a bit about what it means to be an adolescent. It will suggest ways to get help and will provide you with resources where you can find that help. If you are a friend of someone who you think is depressed or is struggling with some of the other issues explored in this book, it will give you some ideas on how you might be able to help.

Depression is an illness that has afflicted humankind since the earliest times. People have studied it, written about it, sung about it, and painted it. There are an incredible number of resources on depression out there, but few of them are geared specifically to youth. This is because adolescent depression has only been recognized as a medical diagnosis in the past 25 years. Todays climbing rates of adolescent depression have parents, sociologists, and medical professionals trying to figure out what is going on. Things are changing quickly, new treatments are being developed, and new discoveries about depression and adolescence are being made. The challenge in this book was to highlight the issues that might be important to you without boring you with clinical descriptions or overwhelming you with information.