Depression meds for teens are key in counteracting the mental imbalances of mental disorders. Thus why the right medication is key to treating your child. If you’re unsure whether or not depression medications are best for your teen, the following information will provide clarity. Most importantly, it will put your mind at ease about your child taking medication under the strict administration and monitoring of our highly-detailed treatment specialists.
Understanding Teen Depression
In context, teen years are the most volatile and developmental stage of a child’s life. This often confusing and key mental and physical growth stage makes teen depression the most dangerous kind of depression. Couple those factors with the lack of discretional maturity and it can lead to rash and fatal consequences. Correlatively, loved ones should take teen depression no less seriously. Considering the factors it should be taken more seriously.
How Important is Medication Management for Teens?
Managing your child’s medication is the most important aspect of subscription administration. Medication management consists of monitoring intake, specific dosage requirements, and choosing the right medication. Thankfully, our highly-trained specialists will ensure you are properly guided to the right prescription and instructed on how to handle all the management procedures. If preferred we can also handle the majority of the medication administration processes on-site. Speak to a caring representative to learn more about medication-assisted treatment for your child.
Medication Management Tactics
Most parents and loved ones don’t know how to start or handle medication procedures for their children. You’ll be surprised how easy and seamless the process is simply by utilizing the following medication management tactics.
Get a Proper Mental Health Diagnosis
Contrary to popular belief, children can have an official mental health diagnosis before adulthood. Put simply, you can’t find the right treatment program or medication without getting an accurate diagnosis. Symptom diagnosis is the primary introductory key to guide physicians to the right treatment and medication. This all-important first step makes the medication management process an easy second-nature task with very minimal work.
Incorporate Medication in Conjunction with Professional Treatment
Utilizing doctor-approved medications in conjunction with professional treatment programs can accelerate mental health progress in extraordinary ways. When your physician incorporates medications with prescription-friendly therapy, medication management, and efficacy are maximized to their full potential. This can also have trickle-down effects on effectively scaling down dosages as the need for prescriptions begins to wane.
Medication Education
At Blume Behavioral Health, we are dedicated to making sure the entire family has every tool necessary to support each other through any struggle. This means being educated on effective medication-assisted program practices and prescription management. We enjoy training parents and loved ones how to manage medications in a way that maximizes therapy and medication efficacy simultaneously.
Strict Monitoring Practices
Strict monitoring means keeping medications in your possession and far from your teen at all times. It also means being on time for your doses as directed by the specific medication. Strictly adhere to the recommended prescription dosages and frequencies on the package unless otherwise directed by a physician. Sticking with a firm medication schedule makes the entire process seamless and easy for everyone involved.
Selecting the Appropriate Medication for Your Child’s Mental Health Battle
As simple as it sounds, choosing the right medication is the only way to properly manage depression for teens. With the wrong medication, comes the wrong dosage requirements and frequency, leading to deepening mental health problems. You can have complete assurance that we will assess and prescribe your child with pinpoint accuracy and maximum efficacy. One call or message to us will give you all the comfort and assurance you need to lead you in the right direction toward a solution.
Write Out and Adhere to a Daily Schedule
Forgetfulness isn’t just a teen thing. It’s very much an adult thing if we don’t put the proper structure in place to formulate daily habits. Adhering to good medication management tactics requires a structured system to produce these daily habits. This means writing out a daily schedule with task reminders, whether it be on a book, tablet, or phone to maintain and adhere to these daily medication management requirements.
How to Curb Failures to Medication Adherence
It’s very common for teenagers to be less than cooperative or not take medication processes seriously, especially when depression is involved. Here are some ways to curb these potential failures with proactive action.
Be a Kind, Daily Reminder
As mentioned previously, we all can be forgetful and forgetfulness is usually more pronounced in younger ages. That’s why they have parents, guardians, and loved ones there to give them the training wheels to develop that structure. Therefore, be their kind daily reminder without coming across as “nagging”, upset, or micro-managing. Doctors can train you to be this solid medication management reminder if you’re uncertain how to carry out these duties. We have in-depth family training sessions to help you be that persistent medication adherence reminder.
Ease Their Fears
For some teens, taking medication can make them fearful of unknown side effects. As a result, they may take added measures to avoid taking their meds. This is where doctors and loved ones come in. Reassure them that the prescription chosen for them is personalized to ensure minimal side effects. Also remind them that these medications were selected to help them, not hurt them. Teens seek validation from their parents, whether directly or passively. Expressing this added assurance can go a long way in easing your child’s fears of taking prescriptions.
Help Them Understand the Gravity of Their Situation
Despite their depression, many teens don’t take prescription treatment or depression therapy seriously. It’s vital for loved ones and those closest to the teenager to help them understand how serious their depression is. Help them see that medication treatment can guide them to a happier life filled with purpose and fulfillment. This prospect of discovering purpose and fulfillment can help them understand the seriousness of their struggles while getting them excited about therapy.
Address Stigma Related to Teen Depression
Be caring, yet bold to address the big pink elephant in the room regarding the stigma surrounding teen depression. Why? Because most teens keep their fears and depression concealed out of fear of what people will think about them. Having to take medication may make them feel weak or inferior due to peer pressure. Reassure them that mental health struggles don’t make them a weaker person. Remind them of the truth that admitting these issues takes more strength than anything. Most mental health sufferers are the strongest beings.
Effective Holistic Approaches for Mental Health
Holistic practices are especially effective in treating teen depression, mainly because they institute a mature routine that teens need most. The following holistic approaches are just a few effective methods doctors will naturally utilize in personalized therapy treatment. Please note these practices are made most effective in conjunction with doctor-approved medication-assisted treatment.
New Hobby Discoveries
Teenagers are still discovering likes and dislikes at this stage of their lives. Blume Behavioral Health helps them discover their long-term joys by exposing them to a wide range of enjoyable activities. These hobbies can be more than a mind occupier. It provides a structured routine in their life. Most importantly, it can be the beginning of discovering their place in the world and who they are.
Lifestyle Alteration Training
Learning how to combat depression takes a lifestyle change, which doesn’t come naturally. Yet, with the right treatment specialist, you can make the necessary lifestyle changes that promote positive mental reinforcement. These changes are both mental and behavioral, consisting of a healthy, balanced diet, regular exercise, and so much more depending on your needs. All of which aid the natural production of vital chemicals that are frequently lacking in teens with mental health conditions.
Positive Mental Reinforcement Training
Depression is the result of a mindset that is set on a perpetual, inescapable loop of negative thought processes. This is nobody’s fault, but a natural response of a mind with chemical deficiencies. We can train you to alter these thought habits through mental reinforcement training programs such as Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy. CBT untrains these negative thought patterns through meticulous, scientifically proven teachings, replacing them with positive thought habits. CBT has worked for countless cases of teenage depression.
Meditation Practices
Doctor-taught meditation is an efficient way for teens to regain focus and take control of their thoughts. Depression holds an individual and their mind captive through false mental negativity and sheer loneliness, regardless of their social circumstances. Specialist-administered meditation practices set them free from their depression symptoms and help them regain control of their life. Better yet, meditation can be independently applied outside sessions with maximized efficacy in conjunction with depression meds for teens.
Community and Support References
To better understand the nature of your child’s condition and Blume Behavioral Health’s impact, the following community support references can be your guide:
- Mental health statistics among the youth: Mental health statistics and facts among the youth provide a broader perspective of your child’s struggles
- Blume Behavioral Health’s treatment methods are aimed specifically at teens: Our unparalleled treatment methods are specifically designed to meet the needs of your child from ages 12-17.
- We promote complete transparency: At Blume Behavioral Health, we incorporate the entire family into the teenager’s support system to ensure full-spectrum transparency and support.
Blume Behavioral Health Offers Depression Meds for Teens
The medication and personal support you’ve been looking for reside at Blume Behavioral Health. Our entire lives are dedicated to your child’s mental health improvement and happiness. We’ll help you all recover together through a journey of self-discovery, family-specific training, and improved mental fortitude. Reach out to us now to get them the complete mental healing they deserve.
Daniel Duel MD is a board-certified psychiatrist specializing in General Adult Psychiatry with a focus on Addiction/Substance Use Disorders. As the Medical Director of an outpatient addiction clinic, he oversees a multidisciplinary team providing comprehensive care. He has extensive experience treating complex mood, psychosis, OCD, anxiety, and geriatric disorders. Dr. Duel is a UCLA graduate, trained in TMS and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.
