It is not uncommon to hear stories of adolescents experiencing mood swings and rebelling against those who hold control 'authority. It's also not uncommon to feel general sadness or anxiety during high school and college. However, it is often difficult to differentiate between normal adolescent anxiety and clinical depression. It is not yet known that there has recently been a dramatic increase in depression among adolescents. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, one in twelve adolescents in the United States suffer from depression, which represents 8.3% of the adolescent population. In order to combat the problem of depression in adolescents, it is essential that parents take an active role in their teenager's life by recognizing and identifying the problem early on and providing them with the necessary tools to help them. teenager to live healthy and happy. according to the book Introduction to Psychology, it is a “state of discouragement marked by feelings of helplessness and hopelessness” (443). Most people experience some mild form of depression during their lifetime. From time to time there are days when you feel depressed and have negative thoughts. The determining factors that help psychologists distinguish between a normal mood change and a more severe form of depression are the intensity of the sadness, the duration of the sadness, and whether that sadness interferes with normal life. Although depression is not a new problem, childhood depression was not considered a disorder until the last twenty-five years (Hosansky). Although some may argue that the reason there is an increase in depression among adolescents is the result of changes in the diagnostic criteria for depression, the Kansas City Star newspaper states in the article "A Very Dangerous Time ...... middle of paper... .... As previously stated throughout this essay, effective ways to help a teenager with depression that parents can influence is to encourage positive self-talk , to create an open environment for communication and support, to promote a healthy lifestyle and to recognize that a problem exists. Although these changes may seem small, they have a significant impact on the adolescent's ability to feel comfortable, happy, and relatively free of depression. Although all teenagers experience mood swings at some point due to hormonal changes, it's important to know the difference. The saying has always been that “parents know best,” and when it comes to managing a child's depression, that statement remains true. Parents are the key to slowing the rising rates of adolescent depression and can not only counsel our youth, but can ultimately save our teens' lives..