In this 5 part series, CityNews explores teen depression by talking with 3 teens and their families, as well as taking a look at available treatment options in Ontario (or lack thereof treatment options rather), and the tragedy of suicide that impacted one family, when their son Alex Herbert took his own life. 

The series sheds light on the prevalent and painful issue of depression and does a good job of addressing the stigma and shame that is so often attached to it. It takes a look at the many symptoms that depression can cause, like sleep and eating disturbances, isolation and hopelessness, as well as self-harm, which often results from depression, or simply a need to turn emotional pain into a physical one, a way that is used to cope.

One thing I found the series lacked was a real hard look at some of depression's non-biologically based causes. While in some cases, clinical depression can be caused strictly by physiological reasons or a chemical imbalance in the brain, it also has a vast array of other potential causes. I was disappointed and a little bit irritated that these causes, as often happens, were neglected in the series, and depression was made to sound like something that you just "get", like something that just "happens", like it has nothing to do with emotions or environmental factors.

I am not by any means discrediting that for some, it may be as physically rooted as diabetes or acne or thyroid disease (which can all indirectly cause depression as well, but that's just over-complicating the matter, and quite irrelevant...). As someone who was diagnosed with clinical depression at the age of 12, I can tell you it would have been quite easy for someone to have labeled the cause of my depression as a mere chemical imbalance and prescribed some pills for me to pop. I suppose that it was lucky in a way that my doctor was even more neglectful than that and simply gave me a pep talk and pat on the back. She asked why I was depressed (like I had any clue how to answer that). When I told her that I was sad that I wasn't allowed to do anything like the other kids (due to very overly strict and controlling parenting), with my father standing right there, she replied, "Oh, well that's just because your parents love you and want the best for you....feel better?"

Not kidding. "Feel better?"... "Yes, of course, man, that was easy! Thank you doctor!" It's funny now, but not really...not funny. Just stupid.  In reality, there was a plethora of reasons, ways I felt about myself, ways I had been treated, and an overall inability to vocalize or even begin to understand these things that caused me to internalize pain. Her response was mediocre, the grocery clerk could've done a better job than that in the time it takes to ring in a minimum amount of groceries. However, it would've been worse, had she prescribed me some pills that would've masked my symptoms and further stuffed down the causes and emotions I didn't understand in the first place, the self-hate, low self-esteem, repressed anger, sadness, hopelessness that all had real root causes in things like child abuse, violence in the home, getting bullied at school and physical imperfections that all created my chemical imbalance in the first place. It would be many years until I found solutions to those problems... (and there always are solutions, even when you think there aren't any, there are).

The series does point to some good resources, like FEMAP (First Episode Mood and Anxiety Program) in London, Ontario, that the surviving parents of Alex Herbert now support through donations, but it also points out the stark reality that there is very little available treatment other than meds. Even emergency facilities and hospitals are all scarcely available, with a limited number of beds and if you want to talk therapy or counseling, well you better be able to pay. Fees range anywhere from $80-200/hour, unless you're lucky enough to be seen by one of few psychotherapists that are covered by public health care. There are 8 in London, Ontario, a city with a population of approximately 400,000. As you can imagine, their waiting lists are not short. 

It's not cheap for public health care to pay such bills, but something needs to change...the way we deal with mental illness in our health care system just isn't working.

Check out the series for yourself here:

Blinded By The Dark: CityNews Explores Teen Depression Parts 1-5

By Diana