Clinical characteristics of depression among adolescent females: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Adolescents rarely seek psychiatric help; they even hesitate to disclose their feelings to their parents. However; the adolescents especially the females experience depressive symptoms more frequently than general population. Do they experience classic depressive symptoms? Are there symptoms specific to this subpopulation? AIM OF THE STUDY: Through this study, the authors aimed to estimate the prevalence of depressive disorders in Egyptian adolescent female students. They also expected a characteristic profile of symptoms for the adolescent females. However available literature provides no guidance in the description of this profile of symptoms. METHODS: A number of 602 adolescent females were interviewed, and subjected to General Health Questionnaire (GHQ); Children Depression Inventory (CDI), Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis-I Disorders (SCID-I), then Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (Ham-D). Results were analyzed by the use of SPSS-15. RESULTS: The study revealed the prevalence of depression in the sample of the study to be 15.3% (measured by CDI), and 13.3% (measured by SCID-I). Fatigue was the most common presenting depressive symptom (81.3%), in addition to other emotional, cognitive and physiological symptoms. Suicidal ideations were the most common suicidal symptoms in depressed adolescent females (20%), with 2.5% serious suicidal attempts. CONCLUSIONS: The somatic symptoms were by far the most common presenting symptom for female adolescents suffering from depressive disorders. Depressive phenomena including unexplained fatigue, decreased energy, psychomotor changes, lack of concentration, weight changes and suicidal ideations may be the presenting complaints instead of the classic sad mood.