By JO-MARIE BROWN
A survey of secondary school students has found small, everyday events are more likely to trigger depression than are major traumas.
The findings of the study - by Taranaki Health senior clinical psychologist John Fitzgerald - are at odds with views that the death of a loved one or sexual and physical abuse are major causes of depression that can push youngsters to suicide.
Among the 328 Taranaki secondary school students surveyed, family fights, failing a course or test and illness or injury to a family member were most often blamed for depression.
"They talked about things that happened in everybody's lives.
"So maybe [depression is] not caused by the event itself but how they cope with it and what kind of support they get," Mr Fitzgerald said.
The findings of the six-month survey were presented on Friday to a child and adolescent mental health conference in Auckland.
"If somebody close to you has died, society says it is okay for you to feel a bit blue.
"But if you fail a test, people say, 'What are you crying about? Come on, it is just a test.'
"Potentially, people have to then carry these burdens on their own," Mr Fitzgerald said.
Research showed that 70 per cent of those who committed suicide had signs of clinical depression.
He believed that the most effective way society could help to reduce suicide rates was to "get better at recognising depression in young people and to get better at treating it."
Acknowledging something bad had happened, asking youngsters what kind of help they needed and giving them time to return to normality were examples of the support needed to keep depression at bay.
Minor woes spark teen blues: study
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