How parents can help their depressed teens?
Adolescents suffering from depression of suicidal tendencies can be cured by timely medical interventions. Teens who commit suicide often talk about it before the attempt. Parents should not dismiss such thoughts as mere threats and should instead take them very seriously and give the child the time they need to open up. If there has been any previous attempt, care should be taken to keep any potential weapon out of their reach.
Parents often feel that asking their children about their depressive feelings or suicidal attempts accounts to "putting ideas into their heads". This may not be true because talking to your children about their feelings can only reflect the care and concern of parents.
Parents and the family members of the depressed teens can adopt the following guidelines to help the troubled teenagers:
- Instead of making fun of their problems, or dismissing them, it is important to talk to the adolescents, bothering to really listen to their words.
- It always helps to let the children see how much the parents are concerned about them. However, it is important here to show concern without putting the children under any pressure.
- It is important to spend quality time with one's family.
- It is important for the parents to seek help for their children if they feel they cannot help them any longer. Ignoring the problem will not make it disappear. Parents can ask teachers, counselors or doctors for guidance with their teens in depression.
- Incase the problem of the teenagers seem to get sorted out, parents need to be on the lookout for recurrence of the problematic behaviors that would show that the cause of the problem may still be existing, but dormant.
