The Telegraph (UK) (8/19, Knapton) reports that researchers in the UK who “studied 2,000 teenagers to see if their social groups could influence how they felt about life” discovered that “having mentally stable, happy friends helped to improve the mood of those who were depressed.” Interestingly, “depressed people did not seem to have an impact on the state of mind of those around them,” the study revealed. The findings appeared in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Related Links:

— “Depression is not contagious but an upbeat mood is, say scientists,” Sarah Knapton, The Telegraph, August 19, 2015.

The Detroit Free Press (8/18) reports that the “American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists estimates one in seven women experience depression during pregnancy or within 12 months of delivery.” Yet despite increasing awareness “of postpartum depression or ‘the baby blues,’ anxiety and depression during pregnancy remain underreported, with no standard screening procedures in place, experts say.” Less than “20% of women diagnosed during postpartum had self-reported symptoms, according to” ACOG. In a May report, ACOG recommended that women be screened for depression “at least once.”

Related Links:

— “Depression doesn’t always wait until the baby comes,” Alison Bowen, Detroit Free Press, August 18, 2015.

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.

CNN (8/19, Wallace) reports in a piece focused on Rosie O’Donnell’s daughter Chelsea, a 17-year-old with a mental illness who ran away from home and was found, that about “one out of five adolescents has a diagnosable mental health disorder, and nearly one in three shows symptoms of depression, according to an overview by the Department of Health and Human Services of the latest research.” Unfortunately, “less than half of adolescents with psychiatric disorders received any kind of treatment in the last year, the Department of Health and Human Services reported.” If parents think their youngsters are “suffering from depression or any other mental health issue, the most important thing…is get them treatment.”

Related Links:

— “Teen depression and how social media can help or hurt,” Dr. Melinda Ring, CNN, August 6, 2015.

HealthDay (8/18, Preidt) reports, “Family problems early in life might raise boys’ risk of depression and anxiety, which is also tied to altered brain structure in their late teens and” into early adulthood, according to a study published online Aug. 17 in JAMA Pediatrics. The study, which “included nearly 500 males, ages 18 to 21,” found that “those boys who faced family problems during” the years from birth to age six “were more likely to have depression and anxiety at ages seven, 10 and 13.” Such boys “were more likely to have lower volume of…’gray matter’ in the brain by the time they reached ages 18 to 21.”

Related Links:

— “Family Struggles May Affect Boys’ Brain Development,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, August 17, 2015.