In a special piece for CNN (8/19), Melinda Ring, MD, FACP, medical director of the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine and the Drs. Pat and Carl Greer Distinguished Physician in Integrative Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, writes that according to a recent review of 10 studies published “in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, 23% of teens report they are or have been the target of cyberbullying.”
But, in Dr. Ring’s personal experience as the mom of two adolescents, “allowing a teen access to social media can also be a crucial part of recovery from depression and anxiety.” When Dr. Ring’s son Matthew dealt with “anxious and depressive feelings,” the family and Matthew’s therapist successfully worked with him “to find sites that were an actual support, offering messages of ‘staying strong.’” Dr. Ring also points out that according to the NIMH, “in 2012, an estimated 2.2 million adolescents, or 9.1% of the US teen population (ages 12 to 17), had at least one major depressive episode in the past year.”
Related Links:
— “Teen depression and how social media can help or hurt,” Dr. Melinda Ring, CNN, August 6, 2015.