NEW YORK — Depression among teenagers in the United States is on the rise. Studies show more than 3 million young adults grapple with depression and less than half receive the treatment they need.
Will Hargen was one of those teens that reached out for help. At 17 years of age, he was carrying a secret only he knew.
“He said, ‘Hey, Mom, can we talk?'”
Tracy Hargen thought her all-American, high school junior was feeling typical teenage stress.
“But then when he said, ‘I’m depressed. I mean, I’m seriously depressed and have been for a long time,’ that blew me away. He was upbeat, he was getting up every day, he was involved in his activities. So it was confusing. And I’m thinking, ‘What’s he talkin’ about ‘I’m depressed?””
“But your first reaction was denial.”
“Yes.”
“Not for him but for you.”
“Yes. Yes, yes. Like, ‘This can’t be. I would know.'”
But Will said he has felt blue since he was nine.
“Joy really wasn’t there much. It wasn’t that I started to become sad more often, I just started to become apathetic.”
“What did ya tell your mom?”
“I simply told her, ‘Look, for as long as I can remember, I’ve been very depressed.’ It was a lot of unknown to me, so tryin’ to describe it to her was difficult. But I knew that this wasn’t normal, and I knew that I was miserable.”
It’s estimated more than three million U.S. children age 12 to 17 have at least one major depressive episode a year. That’s about one in eight adolescents.
“For years, you just swallowed it?”
“Since I was nine, I just thought, ‘I need to figure this out myself.'”
When Hargen opened up about his depression, his mother realized her next words mattered.
“I said to him, ‘Thank you so much for telling me. Thank you for trusting me. I can tell this is really hard for you. I just want you to know we’re gonna be here for you. From here on out, you’re not on your own.'”
“Our brain is a big bully”
Kim Kirkup, a licensed professional counselor treated Will for about eight months. The Hargens gave CBS News permission to talk to her.
“What is it they did right?”
“By realizing that whenever somebody is depressed you have to act. If it drags on for too long it’s just going exacerbate everything.”
Will said he never felt suicidal before telling his mother but said things could have escalated quickly.
“Had you not told her, or had her response been unhelpful, could you have sunk even lower?”
“That was a moment where things could have gotten significantly better or far worse very quickly.”
Something to think about if someone close to you says, “Can we talk?”
