Friday Health Gist with Dr Goke

In this edition of Friday Health Gist, we feature a special short video by Dr Peter Ogunnubi, renowned Psychiatrist and mental health advocate, on Adolescent Depression.

This is one topic that passes unnoticed by most parents and teachers.

It is important to appreciate the facts that depression in teenagers is common and that it is not the “reward of sins to the victim” as ignorantly and wrongly asserted by some. Studies showed a range of 2-36 out of 100 adolescents having different grades of depression, depending on the gender, educational background and social group.

Especially of concern is the increasing rate of reported cases of attempted suicides and suicides among adolescents in our society, which are mostly psychopathologically linked to untreated severe depression.

As Dr ‘Nubi argued: “Adolescent Depression” or “Teen Depression” may not present the way it does in adults. It commonly does in the opposite spectrum; hence why many are missed.

The key ingredient is not to look at “change in usual normal behaviour of the teenager” as waywardness or result of “egbekegbe” (keeping bad companies) or as “attack” from the enemies in the celestial world.

We should close up the teenager; listen to them empathetically and not castigate / bully them physically or psychologically. We should also be ready to seek help with related mental health professionals as the case may be.

Appreciation to Dr ‘Nubi for this worthy effort on “Adolescent Depression”.

Enjoy the watch…