A study have found that teenagers who seek medical help for their mental health problems have less risk of becoming clinically depressed later in adolescence. Researchers from the University of Cambridge have found that 14-year-olds who had contact with mental services experienced significant lessening of depressive symptoms than those who did not seek help. The study was published in Lancet Psychiatry.
When the mentally troubled teen turns 17, the likelihood of reporting clinical depression increases up to more than seven times higher in individuals who did not have access to service users. The study followed 1,238 of teens aged 14, and their primary caregivers who assess their mental state and behavior.until age 17. Teens who had access to mental health services had a significant decrease in signs of depressive than those without access.
According to the Science Daily , around 11 percent or 126 teens had been a diagnosed with mental illness at the start of the study. Among the sample, 38 percent or 48 teens had been provided with mental services in the year before the study. Results demonstrated that levels of depressive symptoms in teens who had access to mental services after three years show amazing similarities as the 996 teens in the study who were not diagnosed with mental disorders, the UPI reports.
More importantly, the study found that by the age of 17, there is a seven times higher rate of teens manifesting clinical depression among those who had not sought mental services than those who did. Sharon Neufeld, a research associate in the Department of Psychiatry emphasized that the study is different from similar previous research since it accounts for the diagnosis of a mental health disorder among teens. "The emphasis going forward should be on early detection and intervention to help mentally-ill teens in schools," Professor Ian Goodyer, lead author of the mental health study, says.
