Almost three quarters of Australian adolescents experience depression or anxiety: study

Sydney, Dec 18 (IANS) Almost three-quarters of adolescents in Australia experience clinically significant symptoms of depression or anxiety, research has found.

The research, published on Wednesday by Melbourne's Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI), found that 74 per cent of Australians reported experiencing clinically significant symptoms of depression or anxiety at least once across their adolescent years between the ages of 10 and 18.

Over 1,200 children from Melbourne enrolled in the study and had their symptoms of depression and anxiety tracked between 2012 and 2019.

Among the participants, 64 per cent suffered from chronic depression or anxiety, which means they reported symptoms three or more times during their adolescence.

Girls were at increased risk, with 84 per cent reporting depression or anxiety symptoms at least once compared to 61 per cent of boys, Xinhua news agency reported.

Ellie Robson, the lead author of the study from MCRI, described the results as concerning because mental health problems in adolescence can have serious lifelong health consequences.

"These are striking findings, particularly given how many young people experienced symptoms over multiple years of the study and how much depression and anxiety symptoms can affect young people's functioning and can have long-lasting negative health outcomes," she said in a media release.

The study found that the onset of depression and anxiety symptoms among adolescents increased at times that coincided with educational stress, such as the transition between primary and secondary schools, exams and the end of compulsory education.

Co-author Susan Sawyer said the findings represent the highest cumulative incidence of symptoms of mental disorders ever reported across adolescents from any country.

The research team will next examine the impact of reported symptoms on the health and functioning outcomes of contemporary adolescents.

Last week, another study had revealed that developing antidepressant medications that target cells in the gut may open a novel path towards effective treatment of mood disorders like depression and anxiety.

"Antidepressants like Prozac and Zoloft that raise serotonin levels are important first-line treatments and help many patients but can sometimes cause side effects that patients can’t tolerate," said Mark Ansorge, Associate Professor of clinical neurobiology at Columbia University Vagelos.

Ansorge noted that the study, published in the journal Gastroenterology, suggests that limiting these drugs "to interact only with intestinal cells could avoid these issues".

Further, the team noted that the novel approach may also help pregnant women, without exposing the child.

Antidepressants that raise serotonin (called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs) -- the first-line pharmacological treatments for anxiety and depression for over 30 years -- are known to cross the placenta and increase problems related to mood, cognitive, and gastrointestinal later in childhood.

On the other hand, leaving depression untreated during pregnancy "also comes with risks to the children," Ansorge said. "An SSRI that selectively raises serotonin in the intestine could be a better alternative."