3 Types of Adolescent Depression

What is the experience of depression like for teenagers? A recent article in Frontiers of Psychology describes research into the “phenomenology” of depression in a group of 10 teenagers, which means that they tried to understand what it was like from the point of view of the teens¹. To do so, they developed an interview getting at their experiences of being depressed.

Three Modes of Adolescent Depression

In reviewing the data, the researchers identified three themes, which they characterized as "depressive modes." The first type they described was a “separated, yearning mode.” This was characterized by a profound sense of alienation from the world. For these adolescents, it seemed as if the world was "a space that has lost its habitual character and from which they have somehow been excluded—as a realm they can no longer participate in.” This disconnection is usually accompanied by a profound sense of loneliness and aloneness, and it was something that was very hard for the adolescents to talk about.

The second kind of depressed mode was the “upset, refusing mode.” The researchers described this mode as a deep sense of being upset or angry with the world and rejecting what it is offering. For these adolescents, life is constantly annoying, disappointing, and unfair. In addition, not only annoyed are they by the world, but they also are often annoyed at themselves for being so reactive. These folks are irritable, sensitive, and defensive, and they often feel others must also not like them because they are so reactive.

The third kind of depressed mode was characterized as the “paralyzed, non-resonating mode.” Here the dominant experience was a sense of apathy, limited motivation, a lack of pleasure and interest, and a general feeling of being numb and/or disengaged. The researchers describe this mode as “a sense of being rather insensitive and indifferent, as opposed to being in some particular (negative) mood. A feeling of being overworked, indescribably exhausted, and virtually unable to move constitutes a central feature of this predicament.”

Understanding the Depressed Modes with the Unified Theory of Psychology

The Unified Theory of Psychology (UT; Henriques, 2011) provides us a new approach to understanding many important concepts in psychology, one of which is depression. As described here, it frames depression as a “state of behavioral shutdown,” whereby the individual’s basic investment system is shifting from engaged to disengaged, and the affect-motivational system shifts from “positive-approach” to “negative-avoid.”

Right away we can see that the paralyzed, non-resonating mode is directly aligned with how the behavioral shutdown model (BSM) frames depression.

The UT also comes with a map of the human relationship system, called the Influence Matrix. The Influence Matrix posits that humans are deeply relational creatures who seek social influence and relational value on the dimensions of power, love, and freedom. It further argues that our primate heart needs relational nourishment in the form of being seen, known, and valued by important others.

Gregg Henriques

Adolescence is a crucial time for being integrated into the social network. It is the time of transition from childhood to adulthood, so the relational system is tracking how that process is unfolding. Consistent with research in personality traits, the Influence Matrix posits that personality dispositions play an important role in this process. The most important one related to depression is the trait of neuroticism, which refers to the degree to which the negative affect system is active and reactive. Folks high on neuroticism are more easily upset, feel more vulnerable, are more self-conscious, and are primed to experience depression and anxiety. (See here for more on this trait.)

Consistent with the work of the great psychologist, Karen Horney, the Influence Matrix suggests that we can track people’s relational tendencies via whether they tend to move toward, move away or move against. Horney suggested that when people experience basic anxiety, they are more likely to adopt rigid relational styles.

When we put this together, we can see that the other two modes make sense. The separated-yearning mode represents folks who can’t find their social influence and relational value and, although they desire connection, they start to shutdown relationally, and move away from contact. Moving away allows them to avoid the feeling of anxiety; however, the strategy is a relational dead end that just leaves them feeling more and more isolated, different, and lonely.

Depression Essential Reads

Tackling Treatment Resistant Depression with Multiple Tools

What Fitness Exercises Treat Depression the Best?

The other style is to move against, which means one tries to punish or attack things that are undesirable or unpleasant. We can see this as the upset, refusing mode. Of course, a reactive attacking style is not the best way to win friends and influence people, and it too will lead to a relational dead end.

What is the conclusion here for folks trying to understand adolescent depression? Well, first, via the UT, we can frame depression in general as a phase shift that results in a state of behavioral shutdown. So, any time we are looking at depression, we should see high negative affect, low positive affect, and low engagement, which is apparent in the paralyzed, non-resonating mode.

Second, we can use the Influence Matrix to say that being seen, known, and valued is crucial for people in general, and perhaps adolescents in particular. Failure to thrive relationally as an adolescent will have significant mental health consequences, increasing both anxiety and depression. In addition, we can say that as teens get frustrated, they might start to get rigid in their styles of relating and either move away or move against. The former results in a separated-yearning mode, whereas the latter an upset-refusing mode.

The entire experience of depression is painful and alienating and one of the big challenges is just getting a frame for understanding it. Many people just think of it as coming from kids having the wrong attitude or being lazy or incompetent. This misunderstanding will create more alienation. A much more accurate and better frame is to see the depression as a state of shutdown arising from a failure to thrive in that developmental period. That failure to thrive can manifest as a paralyzing shutdown, a profound sense of alienation, or a reactive, rejecting attitude (or all three).

Much better than blaming the child is to see this as a symptom of a problem, and, once it is understood, figure out ways to be that increase adaptive engagement and decrease maladaptive reactivity.

Note: Although it is geared for adults dealing with mild-to-moderate levels of depression, readers looking to better understand the concept and what to do about it might benefit from checking out this 15-part blog series I did a few years ago on What to Do if You Are Depressed.