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Teen helps peers with depression
(CNN) -- Jake Novak said he knows the darkness that severe depression can bring. "I just didn't want to live anymore," the 18-year-old Missouri high school student said. "I took a box cutter to my left wrist one evening ... and the shock and the horror of just looking at myself was enough to just make me stop the bleeding." For many teens, depression isn't the result of a poor grade on a test or a fight with friends. It is a biochemical change in the brain. It affects an estimated one in eight teenagers in the United States, according to the Center for Mental Health Services, the administrator of the nation's mental health services system. Every year, 3,000 to 4,000 teens kill themselves, said Dr. Cynthia Pfeffer with the Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York. Suicide is the third leading cause of death for 15- to 24-year-olds, according to the National Mental Health Association. "Depression, we know, is among the most important risk factors for suicide and nonsuicidal behaviors," Pfeffer said. Shortly after Novak's suicide attempt, a fellow classmate killed himself. "My heart sank, and I wasn't sure what to think at that point because I saw somebody else go through the same thing I had gone through," Novak said. "I got to school the next day and saw everybody crying and saw how upset everyone was." That devastation, he said, prompted him to launch a group called Students Working Against Depression, or SWAD. "I didn't know what depression was. I just thought, 'Man, I'm really sad and I just must be this loser that doesn't get to be happy,' " Novak said. "... Nobody [had] ever told me about depression." Through awareness programs, Novak's group tries to show teenagers that it's acceptable to admit they have depression. "People say ... you're not supposed to talk about depression, and I say, 'Why not?' And I haven't heard a good answer yet," Novak said. Pfeffer said depression often goes unrecognized in teens and suggested symptoms for which parents and other adults and friends can be on the lookout. "The hallmark is a sad, low, blue mood, and another hallmark is loss of interest in usual activities," Pfeffer said. Other warning signs include changes in eating and sleeping habits or a lack of concentration or forgetfulness. When these symptoms last beyond two weeks, doctors advise that it's time to get treatment. Novak said he hopes his group will help students suffering from depression take a step in this direction.
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