The experience of young people with depression: a qualitative study

Abstract

People who develop depression experience a maelstrom of emotions as they struggle to understand what is happening to them. While the experience has been comparatively well documented in older adults, much less is known about the depression experience and responses of young people. In this study, we aimed to explore the experience of young people diagnosed with depression. Twenty-six young people were recruited from a youth mental health service. A qualitative interpretative design was used, incorporating semi-structured, audio-recorded interviews. Results provided four overlapping themes, reflecting the young people's difficulties in coming to terms with, and responding in self-protective, harmful and at times life-threatening ways to their depression: (1) struggling to make sense of their situation; (2) spiralling down; (3) withdrawing; and (4) contemplating self-harm or suicide. Study conclusions are that young people faced considerable difficulties coming to terms with, and responding to, depression. Improving young people's understanding of depression and its treatment, reducing community stigma and providing accessible and youth-focused services remain important targets for intervention. It is also important to improve mental health literacy in the community to increase awareness of depression and how mental health professionals, including nurses, respond effectively to the young person.

Young People Negotiating the Stigma Around their Depression

“…That young people tend to manage the stigma attached to depression by concealment is reported in many earlier studies (e.g., McCann et al, 2011). Merely imagining how people might respond is a good enough reason for concealment.…”

“Did I bring it on myself?” An exploratory study of the beliefs that adolescents referred to mental health services have about the causes of their depression

“…A second theme, ‘seeing and being seen’, described the confusion felt by adolescents who were not able to understand their symptoms, and had no clear set of causal beliefs regarding their depression. This struggle to make sense of the situation was also identified in a more recent qualitative study of the experience of depression in young people [13]. As indicated by a number of studies [14, 15], the nature of the causal beliefs that young people have about their depression is likely to impact the engagement with professional help.…”

Depression embodied: an ambiguous striving against fading

“…Depression is a complex experience pervading the person's whole life-world (6,7), interpreted as isolation or alienation (8)(9)(10), and a suffering linked to difficulties in making sense of one's situation (11). Depression is understood as a constant movement between suffering and dignity, causing an unstable everyday life (12).…”