A global mental health approach to depression in adolescence

Adolescence is one of the most important transition periods in life, in which self-esteem and identity are being shaped and individuals experience profound social and physical transformations. In recent years, a concerning increase in the prevalence of mental health disorders in adolescents has been documented, prompting the mental health research community to prioritize understanding the risks of developing psychiatric disorders as well as factors that might be protective. Nature Mental Health spoke about depression in adolescence with Christian Kieling, an associate professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at the School of Medicine at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil. Kieling is leading an international project called ‘Identifying depression early in adolescence (IDEA)’ that brings a global health approach to the topic.