Understanding Depression

Your daughter spends more time in her room than usual, with the door closed and the shades drawn. She sleeps a lot, and even the family dog can't make her smile anymore. She has stopped hanging out with her friends, and when you ask what's going on, she just mumbles.

Normal teen behavior? Not really. There's more here than meets the eye, something that's telling you things are not right. It's possible that your child is depressed. In the United States, depression is the most common mental health disorder, affecting 17 million people of all age groups, races, and economic backgrounds each year. As many as one in every 33 children may have depression; in adolescents, that number may be as high as one in eight. If you suspect that your child is depressed, you'll want to learn more about what depression is, what causes it, and what you can do if your child is depressed.

What Is Depression?
Depression isn't just bad moods and occasional melancholy. It's not just feeling down or sad, either. These feelings are normal in children, especially during adolescence. Even when major disappointments and setbacks make people feel sad and angry, the negative feelings usually lessen with time. But when a depressive state, or mood, lingers for a long time - weeks, months, or even longer - and it limits a child's ability to function normally, it can be diagnosed as depression.

Two types of depression, major depression and dysthymia, can affect children. Major depression is characterized by a persistent sad mood and the inability to feel pleasure or happiness. A child with major depression feels depressed for most of the day, almost every day.

If the sadness is not as severe but continues for a year or longer, the condition may be dysthymia.

Bipolar disorder is another type of mood disturbance and is characterized by episodes of low-energy depression (sadness and hopelessness) and high-energy mania (irritability and explosive temper).

What Causes Depression?
Depression usually isn't caused by one event or thing; it's the result of one or more factors, and its causes vary from child to child. Depression can be caused by lowered levels of neurotransmitters (chemicals that carry signals through the nervous system) in the brain, which limits a person's ability to feel good. Depression can run in families, so a child who has a close relative with depression may be more likely to experience it herself.

Significant life events such as the death of a loved one, a divorce, a move to a new area, and even a breakup with a girlfriend or boyfriend can bring on symptoms of depression. Stress also can be a factor, and because the adolescent years can be a time of emotional and social turmoil, things that are difficult for anyone to handle can be devastating to a teen.

Also, chronic illness can lead to depression, as can the side effects of certain medicines or infections.

Diagnosing Depression
Depressed children have described themselves as feeling hopeless about everything or feeling that nothing is worth the effort. They honestly believe that they are "no good" and that they're helpless to do anything about it.

But for an accurate diagnosis of major depression to be made, a more detailed clinical evaluation must be done. A medical or mental health professional (such as a psychologist or psychiatrist) must be sure that your child has had five or more of the following symptoms for more than 2 weeks:

-a feeling of being down in the dumps or really sad for no reason
-a lack of energy, feeling unable to do the simplest task
-an inability to enjoy the things that used to bring pleasure
-a lack of desire to be with friends or family members
-feelings of irritability, anger, or anxiety
-an inability to concentrate
-a marked weight gain or loss (or failure to gain weight as expected), and little or too much interest in eating
-a significant change in sleep habits, such as trouble falling asleep or getting up
-feelings of guilt or worthlessness
-aches and pains even though nothing is physically wrong
-a lack of caring about what happens in the future
-frequent thoughts about death or suicide

A child who has dysthymia must experience two or more of the following symptoms almost all the time for at least 1 year:

-feelings of hopelessness
-low self-esteem
-sleeping too much or being unable to sleep
-extreme fatigue
-difficulty concentrating
-lack of appetite or overeating

Depressed children and teens are more likely to use alcohol and drugs than those who aren't depressed. Because these substances can momentarily allow a child to forget about her depression, they seem like perfect "fixes." But they don't fix anything; in fact, they can make the depressed child feel even worse.

Effective Time Management Strategies

It is well known that time management is one of the biggest problems students face at Lincoln High School. Here are some ways to deal with it:

• Be Flexible.
There is always more than one solution to a problem. One should be flexible enough to accept alternative solutions and experiment with them. It doesn't help becoming anxious, depressed and staying screwed, if one's dream formula for a problem didn't work.

• Be Realistic About Your Ability.
It does help to set realistic and achievable goals, long term or short term, in life. The targets should correspond to one's capability to achieve them. Making unrealistic demand on oneself and others is a sure way to invite stress.

• Prioritize Your Tasks.
Prioritizing the tasks on hand can help reduce the challenges in completing them. Putting time and energy to important tasks and breaking a big task into smaller steps makes things easier. When one finishes one thing at a time and is able to meet one's responsibilities in time, the effect can be inspiring.

• Learn To Be Assertive!
Practicing to be a little more assertive or learning to say `no' when required can prevent you from taking up extra tasks which can eat into your precious time and energy. We often come across a housewife at home or an executive in office putting themselves under unwelcome stress by taking more than what they can handle.

• Keep A Time Planner.
Keeping a time planner ready helps going about one's task systematically. The listings should be scheduled on a day-to-day and priority basis. It is, also, important to allot a little more time for each schedule to avoid working under strain and anxiety.

• Take Planned Breaks From Work.
A ten-minute stretch or walk can do wonders to relieve stress and enable you to maintain concentration. Also, figuratively speaking, "take a break" and don't be so hard on yourself! Be proud of your accomplishments.

• Do Not Baulk At Delegating Responsibility.
Delegating responsibility when it is appropriate, prevents emergence of stress. When one has several tasks at hand and puzzles over how to go about them, assigning smaller tasks to others can work wonders. This can be done both in office and at home.

Teacher's Guide to Social and Emotional Learning

The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), an organization working to establish SEL as an essential part of P–12 education, has identified specific ways in which SEL programs positively affect academic performance. Here are some things to consider:

Encourage students to apply SEL skills to classroom behaviors that enhance learning. For instance, a teacher can encourage active listening by asking students to identify specific academic goals for themselves. Such goals could be gradebased (“to receive better than C’s in all my courses”) or related to academic behaviors (“to turn in all my assignments on time”). Students can then anticipate barriers to reaching their goals (“I hate math”) and identify ways to overcome those barriers (“I can stay after school and receive tutoring”).

Encourage students to apply SEL skills directly to subject matter. Students can apply SEL skills not just to situations in their own lives but to circumstances facing characters in novels or to actual events, past or present. For a class discussion of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, students can analyze how each party would define the problem. Questions might include:
“What are the perspectives of each party?”
“What are some possible solutions that would reduce the tension between the parties?”
“What are the possible consequences of each proposed solution?”
Such activities both promote deeper understanding of academic material and help students gain familiarity and ease with SEL skills.

Use instructional practices that promote SEL and academic learning. Specific SELfocused classroom-management techniques— cooperative learning groups, academic choice periods, peer tutoring, and service-learning—can improve students’ social-emotional competence and academic performance. Such techniques help establish a respectful classroom environment and minimize disruptions. Instruction in interpersonal skills, followed by opportunities to use the skills in cooperative learning groups, teaches students to collaborate on group goals. Service-learning can enhance students’ social awareness and commitment to others.

Remember that learning is relationship centered. Teachers should make sure they know their students by name, take time to talk with students individually, show concern for their academic progress, and create a caring classroom environment.

Many teachers and administrators contend that effort devoted to SEL may harm academic performance. However, addressing SEL helps schools provide students with a learning context in which students are less likely to behave in ways that harm their health, academic performance, and ability to stay in school. All educators want to create knowledgeable, responsible, and caring students. SEL is an approach to learning that helps students achieve success in school and life.

Wellness Center

Christy Parsons (Wellness Coordinator) is available daily.

Ian Enriquez (Community Health Outreach Worker, Youth Outreach Coordinator) is available daily.

Monica Murphy (Nurse, Tobacco Intervention Coordinator) is available from Monday - Wednesday and Friday.

Sharon Wong (psychologist) is available Tuesday and Thursday.

Sheening Lin (psychologist) is available Monday and Wednesday.

Chris Pepper (peer resources) is available daily and teaches classes during 4th and 5th period.

Marie Chen (drug counselor) is available on Tuesday and Thursday.

Susie Li (Mandarin speaking counselor) is available on Wednesday and Friday.

Laura McGourty (counselor) is available on Monday and Tuesday.

Beth Ringheim (counselor) is available on Mondays.

Talia Korenbrot (relationship counselor) is available on Thursday.

James Guay (therapist) is available on Wednesday.

Reconnecting Youth classes held 5th and 7th period.

Congratulations to Sloan Simmons and Hannah Frank, who are both being honored at this year's Youth Leadership Awards!

You need quality sleep to be healthy and to perform at your best, both physically and mentally. Here are some tips on how to get a good night's sleep:

— It is imperative to create a tranquil and inviting environs in and around the resting-place to slip into a restful sleep.

— One must make it a point to end the day with a pleasant or relaxing schedule: listening to choice music, reading a light and leisurely book, doing some simple, relaxing exercises, playing with children or watching a fun-filled tv show.

— It is significant to keep a watch on what you take at dinner, as most of our mind-body anomalies spring from indigestion of food at physical level or indigestion of emotions (irritation, uneasiness et al) at mental level. A rich and heavy dinner close to bedtime can intervene with your sleeping patterns, make you sluggish in the morning and can disrupt your normal diet routine.

Approximately 20 million prescriptions are written each year for sleeping aids, a number that is dwarfed by the quantity of over-the-counter sedatives sold annually. Though these medications relieve short-term insomnia, medically it is held that these are not helpful in resolving chronic sleep problems. Non-toxic sedatives available over the counter in holistic medicine shops have been proved to be better options for sleep disorders.

A change in attitude such as simple modifications of habits, thought, and behavior patterns often go a long way in reducing stress and tension. Practicing to let go or making a conscious choice not to become angry or upset over trivial matters saves a lot of mental and physical energy. Trying to develop the habit of adopting a humorous view towards life's situations, can take the edge off everyday stressors.

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