The stress of schoolwork, succeeding in life, planning a future while still trying to figure out who you are, all while social media consistently bombards you with what’s believed to be the ideal lifestyle (often one that’s unattainable for most) and more, all lead to what’s a growing public concern; teenage depression.

Local psychiatrist of note Dr Shlomo Brook, located on Bell Drive in Noordheuwel, meets regularly with both teens and school teachers. He came to realise that the situation was more dire than most might think.

Also read: Help stop teen suicide!

“I have many teachers as patients, and they’re not coping. I have many teenager patients who are depressed,” he explained. “Things have been getting worse since Covid-19 with masks, being at home, working on Zoom. It’s really not looking good. In September of last year, I had a teacher from around here who said to me that quite a few kids in her school had committed suicide – especially girls. I asked her if anyone did anything, because we never heard about it. She said no, they didn’t know what to do.

A principal from one of the schools in Soweto said three kids from her school had committed suicide. She also said she didn’t know what to do.”

This didn’t sit well with Dr Shlomo and, driving home one day, the urge to do something and a way to do it came to him.

At that stage he had already written various books, but they were meant for people in the field of psychiatry, and said most books about teenage depression are usually information-dense and difficult for the average person to understand.

For his latest book, Teenage Depression Made Clear, he asked his teenage patients, mostly girls, how they would like him to write a book about depression. “Kids have very short concentration spans. So, everyone told me the same thing: Short and concise. I had the idea to write the book in a question-and-answer format, with illustrations.”

Topics touched on in the book include the triggers of depression such as bullying, social media, domestic violence, sexual abuse, teenage pregnancy and divorce; and also teenage suicide, self-mutilation, medication, psychotherapy and other types of psychological interventions.

“The inability to interact with one another during the lengthy Covid-19 period really had a major impact. Remember, being a teenager is the time to bond with friends, build up your self-esteem and develop skills to interact with others. We don’t know yet what the impact of this is on their lives. Depression very quickly sets in. They can’t sleep well at night, they feel anxious, they don’t feel like leaving their room, they spend lots of time playing computer games and on social media – some studies show they spend more than nine hours per day online.

“The sleep-awake ratio is changing. Some start to lose their appetite, or some eat too much and gain weight, causing them to feel anxious. They can’t explain why they’re feeling so nervous, irritable, hopeless and helpless. Suicide often follows.

Cutting is a very common way of dealing with depression and emotional pain. It can be quite a frightening experience for parents to see their child bleeding. Boys are more quiet, even less talkative than the girls. Often the children become more introverted and isolate themselves, and the next moment they do something stupid like taking an overdose, start drinking alcohol, and so forth.

The book is aimed at the age group 12 to 18. “Younger children may find it too difficult to understand. At 12 or 13 they have real physiological changes in their body, with accompanying psychological changes. I have seen many parents who read the book first, then they give it to their kids. But, this doesn’t replace proper psychiatric or psychological evaluation.”

Teenage Depression Made Clear can be ordered online here.

With it, Shlomo also published a colouring book for younger children called ADHD Colouring Book which can be ordered at https://www.takealot.com/adhd-colouring-book/PLID90268278. This book, he says, is unlike any other of its kind that he’s come across, with pictures and short explanations of ADHD that actually focus on ADHD and are not just a collection of unrelated images.