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American Morning

Interview with Dr. Harold Koplewicz

Aired October 11, 2002 - 09:34   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Easing a teenager toward adulthood can be a time fraught with a lot of worry for parents because teens can be moody, they can be unpredictable. No secret there. But how can parents know if what they're seeing in their child is just teen trauma or something worse? Well, there is a new book out called "More Than Moody: Recognizing and Treating Adolescent Depression" which offers some help.
The author, Dr. Harold Koplewicz, joins me now -- welcome. Good to see you.

DR. HAROLD KOPLEWICZ, AUTHOR, "MORE THAN MOODY": It's good to see you.

ZAHN: Let's talk about all of this within the context of what our country is going through right now, in the wake of September 11, in the wake of these children kidnappings, in the wake of the sniper spree in Washington, D.C.?

KOPLEWICZ: I think we have to understand, though, that this is a very large national health problem. You have three and a half million teenagers who have depression. Not moodiness, but real depression, and that is a real problem. In fact, last year, the CDC reported that 3 million high school students had suicidal thoughts.

ZAHN: Suicidal thoughts?

KOPLEWICZ: Two million had a plan, and last year, 400,000 made an attempt. Now, last year, we lost 2,000 kids between the ages of 15 and 19 to suicide. That is a lot of teenagers. In fact, it's more teenagers to suicide, with the leading cause being depression, than all of the kids who died from AIDS, from cancer, from heart disease, from birth defects, from pneumonia, influenza, all combined.

ZAHN: That's terrible.

KOPLEWICZ: And the real tragedy is one out of five get any help. And then, you have to understand that when you have stress like the snipers, like 9/11, there are vulnerable kids out there. The kids who had an anxiety disorder when they are children are certainly more at risk for developing depression as a teenager. So, what Bill is talking about makes absolute sense, that if you have that vulnerable brain, you are going to be more at risk, and teenagers have vulnerable brains.

ZAHN: Let's come back to that alarming statistic you use, that only one out of five teenagers are getting help, and to put this all into context, we are going to put some graphics up on the screen to better alert parents to what some of the warning signs are. Is that the fundamental problem, that we just don't see this stuff in our kids?

KOPLEWICZ: We just don't believe that teenagers have real depression. We think it's the rebel without a cause, and it really should be "Happy Days." And so, parents do need to know about the warning signs.

ZAHN: Let's talk about historically why we've but ignored them.

KOPLEWICZ: Well, I think that we think that kids are moody and clearly, teenagers are more moody than children are, but it's a real difference between depression. So if your child has a mood shift that they're chronically difficult and irritable -- not depressed, but irritable, and you as a parent say, I love this kid, but I can't stand being with my teenager, that is a red flag. There -- you should still like being with that kid, even though they are a moody teenager.

ZAHN: But you -- as a parent, I know this is so hard, with a teenager myself, you also have to cull out the maturation of the brain that is going on, and figure out how much of it is a drama, and how much of it really is a significant warning sign.

KOPLEWICZ: See, the exciting part about being a teenager is that the brain really has a burst of maturation at 13 and 14, so the brain goes from little country roads to super highways. That is why your eighth grader or ninth grader can study something with great depth, they can become a history buff, they can become passionate about music. But, at the same time, that burst of maturation really does put them at risk for depression.

So you have to know the difference between just moodiness and real signs and symptoms of adolescent depression.

ZAHN: So by and large, are parents doing a lousy job of recognizing these red flags? Is it a lack of education? A lack of sensitivity towards these changes in our kids? Or because it is pretty diffuse sometimes?

KOPLEWICZ: I think sometimes it can be subtle, and it is a wish that we don't want our children to be depressed. Somehow we mix up depression with unhappiness. How we have an unhappy child? What did I do wrong? And we just hope that it's a phase. So, one, we have to train teachers. Two, we have to train parents, and we also have to make pediatricians more aware of the signs and symptoms of depression because, at best, this is a disease that has an effect on your school performance, your family life, your social life. But, at worse, it's a lethal disease.

ZAHN: How much does our reluctance as a nation to deal with this stuff, have to do with the fact that there is still a tremendous stigma attached to depression and mental health issues?

KOPLEWICZ: I think there is tremendous, tremendous stigma. In fact -- I know Tipper Gore was here yesterday, and you have great people like Mike Wallace and Barbara Bush who come out and say I have depression, I've struggled with it. We're still not ready to talk about teenagers and children who have mental illness. The fact is a teenager who has depression is more likely to drop out of school. He is more likely to try to hurt himself and hurt others. So this is truly not a mental health problem. It's a national health problem.

ZAHN: Very quickly in closing, the problem is more prevalent among young women...

KOPLEWICZ: Yes.

ZAHN: ... is it not, than men?

KOPLEWICZ: At risk -- there is no doubt about it, the girls who are in their teenage years are more at risk. Unfortunately, boys are more at risk for suicide, but there are millions more girls who suffer from this.

ZAHN: The name of the book is "More Than Moody," and I think it provides a very important road map for parents to follow.

Dr. Harold Koplewicz, thanks for dropping by, especially in our new digs here.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired October 11, 2002 - 09:34   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Easing a teenager toward adulthood can be a time fraught with a lot of worry for parents because teens can be moody, they can be unpredictable. No secret there. But how can parents know if what they're seeing in their child is just teen trauma or something worse? Well, there is a new book out called "More Than Moody: Recognizing and Treating Adolescent Depression" which offers some help.
The author, Dr. Harold Koplewicz, joins me now -- welcome. Good to see you.

DR. HAROLD KOPLEWICZ, AUTHOR, "MORE THAN MOODY": It's good to see you.

ZAHN: Let's talk about all of this within the context of what our country is going through right now, in the wake of September 11, in the wake of these children kidnappings, in the wake of the sniper spree in Washington, D.C.?

KOPLEWICZ: I think we have to understand, though, that this is a very large national health problem. You have three and a half million teenagers who have depression. Not moodiness, but real depression, and that is a real problem. In fact, last year, the CDC reported that 3 million high school students had suicidal thoughts.

ZAHN: Suicidal thoughts?

KOPLEWICZ: Two million had a plan, and last year, 400,000 made an attempt. Now, last year, we lost 2,000 kids between the ages of 15 and 19 to suicide. That is a lot of teenagers. In fact, it's more teenagers to suicide, with the leading cause being depression, than all of the kids who died from AIDS, from cancer, from heart disease, from birth defects, from pneumonia, influenza, all combined.

ZAHN: That's terrible.

KOPLEWICZ: And the real tragedy is one out of five get any help. And then, you have to understand that when you have stress like the snipers, like 9/11, there are vulnerable kids out there. The kids who had an anxiety disorder when they are children are certainly more at risk for developing depression as a teenager. So, what Bill is talking about makes absolute sense, that if you have that vulnerable brain, you are going to be more at risk, and teenagers have vulnerable brains.

ZAHN: Let's come back to that alarming statistic you use, that only one out of five teenagers are getting help, and to put this all into context, we are going to put some graphics up on the screen to better alert parents to what some of the warning signs are. Is that the fundamental problem, that we just don't see this stuff in our kids?

KOPLEWICZ: We just don't believe that teenagers have real depression. We think it's the rebel without a cause, and it really should be "Happy Days." And so, parents do need to know about the warning signs.

ZAHN: Let's talk about historically why we've but ignored them.

KOPLEWICZ: Well, I think that we think that kids are moody and clearly, teenagers are more moody than children are, but it's a real difference between depression. So if your child has a mood shift that they're chronically difficult and irritable -- not depressed, but irritable, and you as a parent say, I love this kid, but I can't stand being with my teenager, that is a red flag. There -- you should still like being with that kid, even though they are a moody teenager.

ZAHN: But you -- as a parent, I know this is so hard, with a teenager myself, you also have to cull out the maturation of the brain that is going on, and figure out how much of it is a drama, and how much of it really is a significant warning sign.

KOPLEWICZ: See, the exciting part about being a teenager is that the brain really has a burst of maturation at 13 and 14, so the brain goes from little country roads to super highways. That is why your eighth grader or ninth grader can study something with great depth, they can become a history buff, they can become passionate about music. But, at the same time, that burst of maturation really does put them at risk for depression.

So you have to know the difference between just moodiness and real signs and symptoms of adolescent depression.

ZAHN: So by and large, are parents doing a lousy job of recognizing these red flags? Is it a lack of education? A lack of sensitivity towards these changes in our kids? Or because it is pretty diffuse sometimes?

KOPLEWICZ: I think sometimes it can be subtle, and it is a wish that we don't want our children to be depressed. Somehow we mix up depression with unhappiness. How we have an unhappy child? What did I do wrong? And we just hope that it's a phase. So, one, we have to train teachers. Two, we have to train parents, and we also have to make pediatricians more aware of the signs and symptoms of depression because, at best, this is a disease that has an effect on your school performance, your family life, your social life. But, at worse, it's a lethal disease.

ZAHN: How much does our reluctance as a nation to deal with this stuff, have to do with the fact that there is still a tremendous stigma attached to depression and mental health issues?

KOPLEWICZ: I think there is tremendous, tremendous stigma. In fact -- I know Tipper Gore was here yesterday, and you have great people like Mike Wallace and Barbara Bush who come out and say I have depression, I've struggled with it. We're still not ready to talk about teenagers and children who have mental illness. The fact is a teenager who has depression is more likely to drop out of school. He is more likely to try to hurt himself and hurt others. So this is truly not a mental health problem. It's a national health problem.

ZAHN: Very quickly in closing, the problem is more prevalent among young women...

KOPLEWICZ: Yes.

ZAHN: ... is it not, than men?

KOPLEWICZ: At risk -- there is no doubt about it, the girls who are in their teenage years are more at risk. Unfortunately, boys are more at risk for suicide, but there are millions more girls who suffer from this.

ZAHN: The name of the book is "More Than Moody," and I think it provides a very important road map for parents to follow.

Dr. Harold Koplewicz, thanks for dropping by, especially in our new digs here.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com