How Adolescent Depression Is Linked To Family Conflict: Experts Share Insights

If you are worried that your teenage son or daughter is being negatively impacted by upheavals in your family, whether from a divorce, a loss of a loved one, or financial instability, the truth is, adolescent depression is linked to family conflict.

Thankfully, there are lots of mental health experts who are addressing this issue. Like, Mission Prep, which has authored a new guide called ‘Family Issues Causing Teen Depression: How Family Problems Can Lead to Depression in Teenagers’.

If you have noticed that your teen’s mental health is falling, and wonder if it may be in connection to issues or conflicts within your family unit, keep reading.

Is Your Family Facing Conflict?

Sadly, there are many issues facing families today that can impact the mental health of teenagers, including financial problems brought about by the rising cost of living, as well as divorce, which affects around 40-50% of first-time marriages. Moreover, teens can easily be affected by other factors like the loss of a grandparent or loved one, family illness, or needing to relocate.

While, as a parent, you cannot control many of these issues and conflicts, there are ways to alleviate and minimize their impact on vulnerable teens.

For example, some of the advice specialists offer families includes:

• checking in regularly with teens, and opening up the space for meaningful conversation and sharing,
• maintaining normalcy through routines,
• making time for real self-care—as the common analogy goes, if your cup is empty, there is nothing to pour from,
• and being open to getting professional mental health support.

What To Look For In A Professional Mental Health Care Provider

If you have tried some of the above tools, but nothing seems to be helping, it could be time to get the help of a mental health provider.

Mental health experts recommend that you look for a center that can offer your teen a myriad of treatment options and modalities, ranging from residential care to intensive outpatient care to regularly programmed individual treatment sessions.

They also recommend centers that offer both individual therapy sessions for teens and family-based interpersonal therapy, which they believe is essential if family conflict has worsened your teen’s mental health.

As one of Mission Prep's staff psychologists, Jemma Strain, B.S. Psychology, explained, “Interpersonal therapy can help teens and their families work through problems with communication and boundaries to figure out how to manage conflict for better mental health.”

You are also advised to look for mental health providers that make use of several evidence-based psychotherapy methods, including cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).

If you’re looking for knowledgeable and understanding support and advice, Mission Prep is always happy to provide it.