how do adolescents define depression? - cIRcle - University of ...

Chapter II: Literature Review
(Birmaher et al., 2007). In this section, I discuss the sources that can be linked to self-recognition
of depression and pathways to talking to someone when feeling depressed.
Adolescents' Self-Recognition of Depression
Individuals vary enormously in their vulnerability to depression. Diagnostic criteria
continue to be revised, based on the observed presence, duration, and severity of symptoms the
individual presents; however, the researchers do not consider an individual's vulnerability to
depression. Neither has it been established when the individual destabilizes and develops
symptoms of depression (Goldberg & Goodyer, 2005; Goldberg & Huxley, 1993), nor do
diagnostic criteria describe when possible subthreshold depression is imminent or what
categories offer premonitions of the condition (Petersen et al., 1993). Goldberg and Huxley
(1993) suggest that a common process causes people to experience symptoms or to destabilize.
Once symptoms develop, another set of factors plays a part in how long these symptoms will
persist (Goldberg & Huxley, 1993). Hankin and Abramson (2001) introduce vulnerabilities to
depression, such as interpersonal aspects, cognitive vulnerability, or genetic risk. The degree of
stability of cognitive vulnerability from childhood to adulthood is still unknown (Rutter et al.,
2006). Whether the adolescents recognize their vulnerability to depression or recognize the
condition itself has not been explored in research.
Self-recognition of depression is a self-reported, self-diagnosis, where a person detects
the presence or absence of depression and identifies what depression means to him or her, based
on his or her conceptions of depression. Self-recognition involves a perceptual and conscious
awareness and attentiveness to the condition. Self-recognition of depression may involve
identifying cognitions, emotions, symptoms, and behaviors that the individual connects with
depression, as it relates to social relationships. Webster's dictionary (Random House, 1996)
defines "recognize" as "to identify from knowledge of appearance or characteristics...to perceive
as existing or true; realize" (pp. 1611-1612). The understanding of self-recognition of depression
in adolescents is a new territory that needs to be explored.
In a theoretical paper, Cauce et al. (2002) propose that help-seeking cannot begin in
earnest until a problem or mental health need is recognized. The way adolescents perceive
depression, their conceptions of depression, and their self-diagnosis or assessment of the
condition in themselves, may be important considerations in identifying individuals who meet
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