PBS Series Profiles Adolescents with Severe Depression

The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is airing a national three-part series this month on emotional health called This Emotional Life. Daniel Gilbert, Ph.D., Harvard University psychology professor and author of Stumbling on Happiness, narrates an exploration of the struggles and triumphs of individuals who grapple with the complexities of their mental health every day. A Part 2 profile highlights the intractable depression of Caitlin, a high school student who has suffered from the mood disorder since the eighth grade.

“Human beings change a great deal during adolescence, so while somebody is struggling with depression, they’re unable to make the social gains, the intimacy gains, the academic gains that are so necessary when somebody is developing from adolescence to a young adult. It essentially robs people of their lives,” said Caitlin’s doctor, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist Sheila Marcus, M.D., from the University of Michigan. “The problem with letting depression linger is we know that there are subtle changes in the brain such that it’s an illness that becomes harder to treat as you let it take its course.”

Caitlin’s story underscores the need for early identification of depression and other mental health disorders so that treatment can promptly begin and young people can be given the best chance for a healthy future.

This Emotional Life will be re-broadcast on PBS throughout January. Check local listings or purchase the series DVD, available for $34.99.