How to Cope with Holiday Depression - How to help teen depression

Hi! My name is Rachel Blackston and I am here on behalf of Expert Village and I am a private practice mental health counselor in Orlando, Florida. I work at a private practice called Twelve Stones Counseling Center in Ovieda, Florida. I am here to talk about how to deal with depression over the holidays. If you have a son or a daughter that is depressed, it is really important that you take time to talk to them and find out what is going on with them. Also, find out if they would be interested in meeting with a professional counselor and take them to an appointment with their doctor or a psychiatrist. Many of the adolescents that I work with are struggling with loneliness, anger, peer pressure, stress in school and a lot of them can fall into a time that they are feeling depressed. The doctor may prescribe a medication, antidepressant as well as helping them to build their support system and finding better strategies working with their pain and expressing their pain. A lot of times adolescents will use music to express themselves. They may enjoy writing, journaling. They may enjoy things like skateboarding or rap music. So it is really important to get to know what is it, who is my child and how can they start expressing some of the emotions that they may not have the coping mechanism to deal with. And most importantly if their child has any thoughts of harming themselves, it is important that you immediately call 911, take them to an emergency room or to immediately contact a doctor and really take any threats of suicide extremely seriously.