WEBVTT

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Funding for this program is provided by the mental health evaluation and community consultation unit of UBC, through a
grand by then ministry of children and family development, as part of the preventional child and youth mental health plan.

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Yeah, I’ll take that in two, I
just keep you 200 for (inaudible).

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16 year old Kari is being treated

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for a major depressive disorder.
To me depression

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is just the feeling of hopelessness

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and just, like it’s combination
of so many different feelings

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like umm… being numb to the world. Well, when
your manic you don’t really want to hear,

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because you are think, you know, I’m fine. But, it’s
like somebody is telling you when you’re happy,

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you’re too happy.

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17 year old Moira endured four
years with serve bipolar disorder,

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before she was even diagnosed. I
was doing a lot of drugs like

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I was drinking to the point where I
really should be died now pretty much.

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I don’t like to draw eyes. I don’t know,
I think maybe it kind of represents

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emptiness and stuff like that. 19 year
old Angus, suffers from depression

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and calls himself a recovering alcoholic.
Dave climbed out of the depths of despair,

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prove most teens will survive depression.

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The key is recognizing that depression
is a real treatable illness.

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[music]

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Unfortunately there’s no blood test for depression. 30 years ago,
we thought that there was going to be one and it didn’t work out.

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Uh… So, we’re basing it
on a pattern of symptoms,

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which are very consistently
present in depression.

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[music]

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Of course, this is my boy friend
right here. 16 year old Kari

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has the usual Hollywood hunk posters
hanging on her bed room walls.

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But she’s also got much more.
Be strong, be smart, be vocal

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and uh… you know, take care of themselves.

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Colet Kari’s self esteem corner, her reminder
to stay on top of her mental health,

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behind the pictures a reminder of her darker time.
Actually there’s a big hole behind those pictures

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where I kicked it in, when I was
really mad. So, I was just frustrated

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and I was just kind of going nuts.
So, I just had to hit something and…

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Kari was in the midst of a major depressive episode.
I had totally given up dreams when I was depressed.

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I didn’t really find the…

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I guess the world to live
or any reason to for

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and I didn’t understand I felt
that way and I didn’t understand

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why it had happen to me.

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Depression can look in number of different ways in young people.
The commonest thing is that the young person really does look sad,

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they look unhappy. Umm…
They’re often withdrawn,

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they don’t enjoy things. In most cases, there’s
quite significant disturbances in sleep

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and eating patterns. So, there are some
very physical symptoms of depression.

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Depression ranges from chronic
low mood called Dysthymia

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to major depression which is debilitating
and can be life threatening.

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Kari had all the symptoms
of clinical depression.

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Not wanting to get out of bed in the morning, not
wanting to eat, umm… you know, go to school.

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When someone is clinically depressed, they
can’t concentrate. And as a result of that,

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it’s hard for them to read and
they’re school grades really drop.

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By grade aid,

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Kari’s grades were plummeting.
She missed 24 days of school

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too down to get out of bed.
Kari remembers her depression,

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starting much earlier. Probably
when I was about in grade six,

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I just started feeling unhappy, I would
think about suicide all the time,

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because I was grade six and I knew
absolutely nothing about depression.

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I thought that it was normal to have those kinds of thoughts. And I thought it was
normal to feel, negatively about things, I thought that everybody else did too.

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Depression is remarkably
common in teenagers,

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especially girls. One in four
between the ages of 12 and 19

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was suffered depressive episode. Yet, only about half
of depressed teenagers are diagnosed and treated.

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With younger children, they’re often not

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aware that they’re depressed. And then may not
express that. They may just see themselves

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as a bad person or they may be
just used to feeling quite down.

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Like so many children, Kari’s depression went
undetected and followed her in to her teens.

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I can remember where I was
sitting when I wrote this.

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When I walk around, I get dizzy and I can
feel my heart just pounding out of my chest

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and I’m yawning all the time. No matter what
and I always find hard to keep my eyes open.

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So, feelings as got so
much stronger and it just,

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I guess it’s sort of like, I feel like
I just like losing grip of everything

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and then just, I know it
sort of just scared me.

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Thoughts of suicide became all consuming. I feel,
I thought about like my funeral like thinking,

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who really cares about me, you
know, who would be there,

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you know, who would cry for
me, who would be upset,

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you know, because it… like it feels like nobody really cares
about you. Having suicidal thoughts and some self harm behavior

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is quite common and not all those
kids are clinically depressed.

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Umm… Fortunately completed
suicide is quite uncommon,

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maybe something like a 11 per 100,000
per young people per year not a common.

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But obviously, we see that
is a preventable death.

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So what do you want to know about (inaudible) sex
thoughts that you can role? Had to pick up guys.

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Trust me, they come to me.
Kari and her mom Gayanne,

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work easily together now. But there was a time,
when they couldn’t stand to be in the same room.

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My mom had asked me to help run the
house and I didn’t have the energy

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or she would ask me if I wanted to go
somewhere, and I didn’t want to go anywhere.

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It’s frustrating me that I could hurt somebody
that I love and it, I mean, I was so angry

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that I could let that happen. Could have… Sure, you
didn’t ask me if it was like, yeah, we’re going out, but…

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This screaming matches are something else,

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your first thing is to take it personally
and your feelings of being a bad mother

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of not having done the right thing.

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But parenting skill do a
lack that brought this on,

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is there some way that it could have been prevented. There’s
often quite intense conflict between parents and kids

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when they’re depressed. And part of it is
the children or the teens are irritable,

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they’re angry, they’re frustrated. Another
part of it is they’re not doing the things

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they’re supposed to be doing, they’re not succeeding
umm… and emotionally they’re very reactive.

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Uh… So, that the intensity of
that arguing is much greater.

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So, how do tell the difference between typical
adolescent mood swings and depression?

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The key thing in depression
is it there’s a consistent

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and persistent change from the
child’s normal functioning.

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It has to for a minimum of two weeks everyday a consistent
pattern and usually it’s much longer than two weeks.

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So, that’s the key. And you think
it’s okay to just get kicked up?

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Why you’re being (inaudible)such an asshole, Robert? Because
I’m concern of over… Bewildered parents often respond

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by mistakenly laying down the law.
Enhanced discipline and things like that

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matching aggression with the aggression,
these are all very natural,

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normal responses, they just don’t work
and they serve to make matters worse.

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The old thinking that
this child is a bad kid

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who is trying to push her buttons or who is
manipulative or who is trying to get attention,

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all of those stories are
becoming umm… uh… recognized,

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uh… are being recognized as being very
invalid, that isn’t just a bratty kid

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who is trying to get his way, that
this is child who is having struggles

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with their ability to function
for a reason and that reason

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is a biologically based mental illness.
I made this in memory of my uncle.

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He passed away a couple of years ago. Kari’s
depression came to ahead after the death of an uncle.

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The day of his funeral,

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uh… we just gotten home to my
uncle’s apartment and I called home

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and they told me about a boy in my
school that had committed suicide.

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And uh… it just … and it hit away to hard.

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And like I… I was trying to
deal with all these losses

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in just the thought of, you know,
like my uncle Jay losing his life

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and the boy that his… it was just…

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it was just too much to handle.

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Like, it’s just… I couldn’t really bare it and
it just became a little too overwhelming for me

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I thought I got to do something about this.

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At 15, Kari finally told her
parents, just how bad she felt.

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Around that time we also heard about her wanting
to hurt herself and the suicidal thoughts.

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So, it was all around that same
time it was all coming out.

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I guess in some ways it was sort
of a relief because once you know

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that you have something like that then
you think okay, let’s get some help,

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it’s not my parenting totally.

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I’m not the bad mom that she is saying
and that I’m thinking and feeling.

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Kari’s mother immediately called their
family doctor and the family was lucky,

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although there is often a waiting list
to see a mental health professional,

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Kari got a psychiatrist appointment within the week.
She was prescribed a medication called Celexa,

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although anti-depressions are
by no means a magic bullet,

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especially in teenagers, for Kari it
helped. When I was first taking Celexa,

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I … it took about three and
half and months to four months

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until I look back and I was like, wow, I have
been doing so much better and I was good…

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but then after awhile I started you
know going out to more parties

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and you know getting into drinking
and all that kind of stuff

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and the Celexa didn’t like that. So,
it started making me really sick

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and so at that point it was choice,
go and party with my friends

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or stay on Celexa and, you
know, have as much fun.

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So, of course, you know I was like
grade nine, I choose the partying,

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yes, I did. One of the fascinating things
about teenagers is they’re so smart.

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I mean, their brains are growing so quickly and
they’re good thinkers, may understand lots of things,

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but the one area of their brain is not well wired up is the
area that has to do with judgment and decision making.

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So, we see someone who
knows what they should do

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and half an hour later we see them do the opposite.
So the implications for depression is they may know

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they should be taking medications, exercising,
sleeping and doing all these other things,

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but they just can’t follow through.

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Are you kidding me? No,
I’m in terms of your.

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That’s right Nun. When
her depression worsened,

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Kari tried again with the Meds. I’m still
working on getting the medication.

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I tried Effexor, taking
all (inaudible) in pills

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and all they did was making
me sick, I hate them.

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I tried Zoloft which just didn’t
do anything and then comes Celexa,

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but I think my promise that I just had such
a hard time to remembering to take them.

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One of the things it’s been a bit disappointing
about the medications is that they’re not

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as effective for depression in young people as we had
hoped. Studies have been that compare to depressed teens

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on antidepressant medication, was
depressed teens taking a placebo

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or a simple sugar pill? What we find
out really in the last six months

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is that 12 of 15 studies of antidepressants
in young people were negative,

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it didn’t help, there were only 3 out of 15
studies that should any evidence of benefit

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and we’re still digesting what that means.
Research also raised concerns about

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troubling side effects of some antidepressants
medications in people of all ages,

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but especially in teens prompting
Health Canada to issue a warning

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in spring 2004. There are number of behavioral
and emotional side effects which may occur

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with the standard medications used most commonly
the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors,

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but also other antidepressants. Some of
those emotional and behavioral effects

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include things like
agitation, disinhibition,

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worsening mood or emotions going
up and down unpredictably.

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It’s also included a slightly higher risk
of suicidal thinking and suicidal attempts

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then we’re seeing on the placebo medications in
the studies. We still don’t know what that means,

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but the data is such that Health Canada
felt the warning needed to be out there.

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Health Canada also warned not to stop taking
medications suddenly without consulting a physician.

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There can still be good reason to prescribe these
medications, the key is to closely monitor

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the Childs reaction. With these
emotional and behavioral side effects

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and important thing to know is that they’re usually seen in the first
of couple of weeks or the first couple of months of treatment.

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A child doesn’t suddenly wake up a year
later with suicidal thinking for example

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sif suddenly agitated due to the medication
usually. So this is something to look for early on

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and is not a reason to take a child off
medication who is doing well on the medication.

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In recent years, there has been a trend to prescribe
medications as a first line of treatment for depression,

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but new research indicates that
many young people with depression

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can be effectively treated
with talk therapy only.

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Kari’s psychiatrist recommended she stay on medication
and also start talk therapy through her local child

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and youth mental health facility. Mental
health clinician, Tamara Chapman,

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began working with Kari. So what are you
worrying about? Anything that I possibly can.

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Tamara uses cognitive behavioral therapy

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shown by research to be effective in
treating depression. Depressed teens

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tend to see themselves quiet negatively,
cognitive behavioral therapy teaches teens

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to think and act in the more positive manner,
at first the cognitive or the thinking part.

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And like if do then biology it’s..
It’s going to bring down my GPA

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and then I’m not able gonna be get in the
college. Mm-hmm, in favor of yourself?

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No, because, like I know that I don’t have to put
this on myself. In terms of the thinking piece,

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it’s working to acknowledge
those negative thoughts when

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they happen and then when we see them challenging
them to come up with something that’s more positive,

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more realistic. The, are you being

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fare to yourself? Am I exaggerating. So, what else
you did to challenge those negative thoughts?

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I’m, I just, I guess,

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I just I identify then I think
okay, is that actually true,

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you know, but as today I think of the
positives than so of the negatives.

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After all it start to come over more
easily like sometimes it happens

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then I don’t even know it, and it’s just like wow,
I did that, just taking one negative thought,

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identifying it and turning
it into a positive thought,

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sounds very simple, right.
It, wasn’t, it was so hard.

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Once the teen can identify the
negative thought and challenge

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it the cognitive piece, the therapist
teaches them to change their behavior.

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What are doing to look after yourself?

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Look, I’m letting the worries like take over my mind. In terms of the
behavioral piece, umm… really working and looking what are the actions,

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what are the things that you’re doing that are going to
contribute to your mood and help you to feel better?

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Yeah, like I’m not, like I’m not letting everything pile
up and I’m like I’m not trying to take on too much.

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It sounds like when you start to notice that
soft out piece happening that you’re able to

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identify it and acknowledge it.

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Yeah, yeah, like I really, if I let something like
stress me out or you know bring me down like,

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I have a vision of this downwards
fire that you showed me,

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it’s a lot easier to tackle it.

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Reducing negative thoughts allows Kari
to begin building a positive self image,

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one example her culinary arts classes. A little.
Too much. This is too much, just a pinch.

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I never had a passion for anything before,

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but as soon I, as soon I walked in that
cafeteria the very first day I thought,

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oh, this is where I…
this is where I belong.

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And her school’s annual awards
night, Kari won a culinary award

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and a chef apprenticeship, only she knows
what it took to win over her depression.

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And the look on your face
was worth a million bucks.

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I was just so proud to see that look on your face and
so happy for you. Last night was really awesome for me

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because I was in a place that usually
wasn’t meant for people like me.

00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:39.999
You know, when I got there I
was like, just, like so proud

00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:44.999
you know like the way that I have been to turn
things around, look at, what I have done for myself,

00:18:45.000 --> 00:18:49.999
look at how I have turned
it all around, you know.

00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:54.999
You better hug her or kiss.
Kari feels good right now

00:18:55.000 --> 00:18:59.999
and to keep it that way, she stays
on medication and in counseling.

00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:04.999
Experts say half of teens who suffered
depressive episode will have another one,

00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:09.999
Kari plans to be ready. So like, I don’t think that it’s ever
going to go away. I think with, you know, with proper medication

00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:14.999
and, you know, doing things to take care
of myself, I can cope with it really well,

00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:19.999
I don’t think that all be cured and
I’m fine with that you know like

00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:24.999
some people deal with physical
disabilities all their life,

00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:30.000
you know, they learned to cope, I have
them mental disability, I’m coping.

00:19:35.000 --> 00:19:39.999
[music]

00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:44.999
Pretty much just not, not fun,

00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:49.999
pretty bad, you know, have no motivation

00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:54.999
and what, I realized

00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:59.999
I was just including myself more

00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:04.999
and I was really worried about myself sleeping
the long a day away. I was worried that

00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:09.999
I might be schizophrenic because I
was getting really super paranoid

00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:14.999
to the point of like craziness.

00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:19.999
Angus is suffering from depression.
It’s far less common in boys than girls

00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:24.999
between the ages of twelve and nineteen, one
in eight boys will suffer from the illness

00:20:25.000 --> 00:20:29.999
compared to one in four girls and
depression looks different in boys too.

00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:34.999
For example girls may be more likely to talk with
her friends about it, to talk about their mood

00:20:35.000 --> 00:20:39.999
and communicate a bit more and the
guys are much less likely to do that.

00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:44.999
They may be more likely to be withdrawn
and irritable not share with the friends

00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:49.999
what’s happening because it’s not cool. Although,
there was a history of depression in her family,

00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:54.999
Angus mom, Holly, had no reason to
have suspected in her baby son.

00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:59.999
He was very happy go lucky, that young baby
still just laughed away and gave the best

00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:04.999
pictures that any little one could.
I guess about great seven

00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:09.999
he started to change and you
know he attributed to puberty

00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:14.999
and growing up, but he still
maintained a really happy attitude,

00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:19.999
but you could see the darker moments starting to come
into play. One of the important causes is genetic,

00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:24.999
depression runs in families. Some, some families
just have a very high rate of depression.

00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:29.999
Some of the other factors
can be chronic stresses.

00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:34.999
Another big source of umm… causes of
depression are things like losses,

00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:39.999
early loss of a parent for example.
About this time, Angus began having

00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:44.999
serious conflict with his father.
Angus’s father was explosive.

00:21:45.000 --> 00:21:49.999
When he wasn’t exploding

00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:54.999
I would like to think he was a decent father,
when he was calm, but when he would explode

00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:59.999
he would really blow. Well, yeah when
you’re like you’re fucking loser

00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.999
and you know you don’t do anything
and go out there and make money,

00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:09.999
so I can go on buy shit
and for himself right.

00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:14.999
We had issues of control.
The conflict at home

00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:19.999
made things worse at school. Angus has a tremor
in one hand and when he stressed it gets so bad,

00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:24.999
he can’t write. Then on top of it all,

00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.999
his parents decided to move the
family from Ontario to BC.

00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:34.999
I was just coming in my high school.
I had to leave all my friends

00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:39.999
and come to a new place that added stress, you
know I didn’t have a lot of friends at first

00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.999
and I don’t know, I don’t think I
was really so much doing drugs

00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:49.999
right at the beginning, but
I start to do lot of drugs

00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:54.999
later and near the end of the year.
By grade nine, Angus was

00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:59.999
one loud cry for help. I started a
fire in school, it was a little one

00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.999
like it was pretty much burning
paper and I stare away.

00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:09.999
By the time the principle phoned us and it turned
into Angus was trying to set the school on fire.

00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:14.999
Yeah, I was trying to burn down the
freaking school with the piece

00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:19.999
freaking paper and, you know, I wasn’t often there
you can really burn down big old cement school

00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:24.999
with a piece of paper but…

00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:29.999
But Angus was suspended for that.
For Angus that time is a blur

00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:34.999
including his father’s reaction.
Don’t really remembered,

00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:39.999
umm… I don’t know I have a lot of situations
that I’ve really kind of blacked out.

00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:44.999
In that great nine year,

00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:49.999
I turned him my husband near the end about April
and I said, “I think we need to get Angus

00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:54.999
into therapy” and his father
wouldn’t let us do it.

00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:59.999
And I know I should have been stronger
at the time and now I would be,

00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.999
but at time I wasn’t and
I did not pursue it.

00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:09.999
Angus became of obsessed with killing
himself and it came out in his heart.

00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:14.999
I was pretty heavy suicidal

00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:19.999
from grade nine to may be
or even eleven or twelve.

00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:24.999
I did lot of self mutilations, stuff like
that, and you get upset to the point

00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:29.999
where you just think there is no escape.
Holly, when you first saw these pictures?

00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:34.999
Which is right now?

00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:39.999
What’s your reaction?

00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:44.999
Well, I’m very sad but I’d
rather these the issues on paper

00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.999
and in the drawing then have sit
entrusted inside him and then come out

00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:54.999
in a way that will harm him
or someone around him.

00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:59.999
During this period, Angus
began drinking heavily.

00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:04.999
Well, at my heavier times,
I was drinking like

00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.999
two Mackie(ph) hot liquor and I would guzzle
it down in like less than five minutes.

00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:14.999
We see a lot of the adolescent males, well, they
just start to drink again self medicate with alcohol

00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:19.999
because it’s something they
can do that socially okay,

00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:24.999
or smoke pot for example. I was drinking to the point
where I really should be dead now pretty much.

00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:29.999
Males have a couple of concerns

00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:34.999
in terms of their risk taking behavior. One
is that in fact more males actually suicide

00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:39.999
even though the rate of depression is lower, so
they maybe more likely to have completed suicide,

00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.999
maybe not as many suicide attempts and that maybe
because they’re not sharing what’s going on,

00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:49.999
it may be because they’re
more impulse of risk taking,

00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:54.999
driving cars dangerously and you
doing other kinds of risk behaviors

00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:59.999
as an action oriented way of dealing with the
situation. Some of the evenings, I would wake up to

00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:04.999
smell the drugs, smell the vomit.
I mean, with the pot smoking

00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:09.999
I just pretty much enjoyed, it
was like a roller coaster ride.

00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.999
In reality, smoking pot quite likely
made Angus’s depression worse.

00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:19.999
There is some new research
indicating that marijuana itself

00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:24.999
seems to be linked with depression
uh… as a possible costive factor,

00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:29.999
umm… certainly what we do know is a many of the symptoms
of depression will be produced by daily marijuana use.

00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:34.999
By grade eleven, the situation in
Angus’s home reached a breaking point.

00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:39.999
My dad had a big blow up pretty much

00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:44.999
and yeah, I ended up uh… leaving

00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:49.999
that house and just pretty much

00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:54.999
leaving and going out.

00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:59.999
I’m driving back home and I find
my son walking through the streets

00:27:00.000 --> 00:27:04.999
with his head phones on
and he is just walking.

00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.999
So he was so lost and I knew at that point

00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:14.999
that he had nowhere to go,
he had no home to go to,

00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:19.999
he had nowhere to go and I
knew deep inside myself

00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:24.999
that it was time for me that I would have to
make that choice that I was going to lose him,

00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:29.999
that I was going to lose Hannah or I
was going to have to lose my husband.

00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:34.999
Am I no hippies’. Yes, you look just
like the hippies’ used to look,

00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:39.999
with the long hair and the long beard.
Holly made her choice.

00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:44.999
Angus begin a new life with his mother
and sister Hannah away from his father.

00:27:45.000 --> 00:27:49.999
Holly hoped Angus would get
better, but he didn’t.

00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:54.999
You know, life sucks and here I’m laying
on a couch, puking all over the place

00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:59.999
and my mom is downstairs
crying and yelling at me

00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:04.999
about what am I going to do, you
know, I’m putting extra strain

00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:09.999
and anguish on her so…

00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:14.999
Overcome by his mother distress, Angus finally
admitted he needed help, he told his mother

00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:19.999
he thought he was depressed.
Because of my past with depression

00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:24.999
and because of my own

00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:29.999
mixed up state at the time I was quiet, I
didn’t want to admit that Angus had depression

00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:34.999
by this point. I was frightened
of what depression meant.

00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:39.999
In spite of her fears, Holly took
Angus to their family doctor

00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:44.999
who confirmed that Angus was suffering from
depression and he prescribed an antidepressant.

00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:49.999
Holly next contacted the ministry of
children and family developments,

00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:54.999
child and youth mental health team.

00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:59.999
Psychologist Kym Dawson works
with kids up to age 21.

00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:04.999
Things better lately? Uh… Yeah, I say so.

00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:09.999
Angus presented with
symptoms of depression.

00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:14.999
An intellect that was a little bit
slow, his memory was horrible,

00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:19.999
he could remember his name address or telephone number when I asked
him. I’m wondering how you are doing on that scale of 1 to 10.

00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:24.999
Well, I would say today I
would probably be about

00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:29.999
a six.

00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:34.999
He was someone have went on
that doesn’t really hold

00:29:35.000 --> 00:29:39.999
any views up on you or anything like that
which is nice because if you’re talking to

00:29:40.000 --> 00:29:44.999
a parent or somebody who knows you they are
like you know through judgment on you or say,

00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:49.999
no you’re not really like that.

00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:54.999
Dr. Kym was there and he
would just listen and kind,

00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:59.999
I don’t know if it helped through things. So,
that would be as start as to kind of sit

00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.999
and listen and ask some probing questions

00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:09.999
about what’s going on. That probing led to Angus
admitting he had an alcohol and drug problem.

00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:14.999
Perhaps, half of our youth or more

00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:19.999
come in with a combination of mental illness
or some kind plus the substance issue

00:30:20.000 --> 00:30:24.999
or some sort to tease them apart,

00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:29.999
I ask question as well. When a teen is
depressed and has an alcohol problem

00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:34.999
there is more urgency to diagnose and treat.
Depression is often associated with suicide.

00:30:35.000 --> 00:30:39.999
People with mental illness who
are also drinking for example

00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.999
have been found to chose suicidality
as well more often than

00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:49.999
people with just the mental illness.
So I think what re-happening is

00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:54.999
the impulsivity that can come up with umm…
use of alcohol or some other substances

00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:59.999
umm… he adds to the risk, it simply
compounds the risk of the mental illness.

00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.999
In many cases it’s difficult to determine what
comes first, the alcohol abuse or the depression.

00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:09.999
In Angus’s case, I think
his umm… low mood state,

00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:14.999
his low sense of self-esteem in all
probability, he came before the substance abuse

00:31:15.000 --> 00:31:19.999
and he didn’t start using, I mean, he
experienced the family conflict the tremor,

00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:24.999
the writing disability which all and all
probability contributed to the low mood

00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:29.999
before he begin using alcohol or pot.
Dr. Dawson concluded

00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:34.999
Angus’s had been through a major
depression and currently had Dysthymia

00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:39.999
or chronic low mood. Honey, do
you walk the dogs this morning,

00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:44.999
you have to walk them? Yeah, I knew that as kinda… Dr.
Dawson decided he would use cognitive behavioral therapy

00:31:45.000 --> 00:31:49.999
to treat to both the depression
and the substance abuse problem.

00:31:50.000 --> 00:31:58.000
CBT would help the Angus reframe his though patterns from
negative to positive. I focus more on the, umm… the thoughts,

00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:04.999
the negative thoughts and the positive thoughts
and Angus was very willing to tell me,

00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:09.999
his anger and about various things in
his life that I have already mentioned.

00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:14.999
Umm… He was quiet willing to
identify some positive thoughts

00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:19.999
that he would rather positive believes
that he would rather have about himself.

00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:24.999
I just kind of had to really realize,
you know, read out fact from affection

00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:29.999
and that’s the only way you
know I could really stay,

00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:34.999
staying in the environment I was in.
Part of this saying,

00:32:35.000 --> 00:32:39.999
he is keeping on top of his substance abuse. That kind
of talking coming from your school and stuff like that

00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.999
and you showed up and… Dr. Dawson recommended Angus
attend an adolescence substance abuse treatment program

00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:49.999
called “IMPACT.” Now, we just can’t seem to

00:32:50.000 --> 00:32:54.999
get rid of that, you keep coming every day.
You know it went from

00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:59.999
me just coming because you know
my mom wanted me to get help

00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:04.999
and then to you know kind
of because I wanted to.

00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:09.999
[sil.]

00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:14.999
Besides group therapy,
IMPACT, runs activities

00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:19.999
which helped get kids connected to
a world beyond drugs and boose.

00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:24.999
[sil.]

00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:29.999
Getting someone here as
often is a quiet a journey

00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:34.999
you know by the time they get to our program
most people have really gone through

00:33:35.000 --> 00:33:39.999
a really long hard road and uh… so you know,
we definitely try and help them get clean

00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:44.999
and stay clean and also have uh… fun

00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:49.999
without getting high which is uh… you
know, quite foreign to some adolescents

00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:54.999
by the time that they gotten here.
Angus has made tremendous progress

00:33:55.000 --> 00:33:59.999
and now attends University
College of the Fraser Valley.

00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:04.999
I realized if you don’t have some
set boundaries and set goals,

00:34:05.000 --> 00:34:09.999
you really can get anywhere
if you go day by day

00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:14.999
because otherwise you’re just like laying on the couch all day
and I will fall back into this same thing I was in last time.

00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:19.999
Angus still occasionally
drinks and smokes pot.

00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:24.999
I still do dumb stuff every now and then.
I mean, everybody does.

00:34:25.000 --> 00:34:29.999
How the parents of pairs are
trying to cancel the video

00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:34.999
not because it was their daughter and it
because they thought it was like shot

00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:39.999
in the Holiday Inn that is why.

00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:44.999
He loves to make people laugh,

00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:49.999
he will come up to me and ask me, are you
feeling okay, so he is very sensitive

00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:54.999
to the other people feelings
umm… and then he will listen,

00:34:55.000 --> 00:35:00.000
he is gem.

00:35:05.000 --> 00:35:09.999
I had a horse he was like
the only friend that I had

00:35:10.000 --> 00:35:14.999
because with my Bipolar I
didn’t very well with people,

00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:19.999
so I just relayed on my horse as a friend.
At teenage girl on an afternoon ride

00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.999
for 17 year old Moira these
are precious moments

00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:29.999
precisely because they’re so normal. Moira
lost most of her adolescence to the pain

00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:34.999
and chaos of Bipolar disorder. She was
diagnosed and began treatment one year ago.

00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:39.999
In Bipolar disorder, you usually
have periods of depression,

00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:44.999
but what’s most distinctive about bipolar disorder is
you have clear period of what we would call a high mood

00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:49.999
or mania or hypomania which
means low grade mania,

00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:54.999
where the person is agitated,
energetic, often irritable,

00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.999
but often feeling somewhat grandiose like they
far more abilities then they have actually have.

00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:04.999
Well, Moira had Bipolar, I
couldn’t help, I start to cry,

00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:09.999
I was actually really happy
because for once people

00:36:10.000 --> 00:36:14.999
I could understand my daughter was sick.
I had a piece of paper saying

00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.999
my daughter is not spoiled, she is not
run away teenager, she is, you know,

00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:24.999
there is something wrong now please
help us. Clearly everybody has

00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:29.999
periods of being up and periods of being
down. It becomes Bipolar disorder

00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:34.999
when those up’s and down’s
are of greater severity

00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:39.999
than an average person would experience. Maniacs
when they start coming on you know you’re hyper,

00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:44.999
it’s a hyperactivity thing

00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:49.999
and, you know, you have no logic.
You don’t remember much,

00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:54.999
my mom would probably remember more when I’m
really mad at your strong, extremely like strong,

00:36:55.000 --> 00:36:59.999
strong well and strong and strength.

00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:04.999
You can do anything, you feel and you feel like you can
do anything too. When she would just be coming up a bit

00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:09.999
it was just like all of a sudden, I’m starting
to feel energetic. I would like do something.

00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:14.999
Now, I’m starting to get off the couch.
But, you know, she is going to escalate,

00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.999
which is not in the safe zone. So, you can’t
even at that point let her get too far from you,

00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:24.999
because as she is escalating the logic on this
side of the brain is totally disappearing.

00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:29.999
And then always you knew, what
went up what’s going to come down.

00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:34.999
From the manic high, Moira would plunge into
deep depression. It could happen weekly,

00:37:35.000 --> 00:37:39.999
daily, sometimes even more often.
It was like you are depressed

00:37:40.000 --> 00:37:44.999
and then it could be a minute later you’re manic and
then a minute later you’re depressed at my worse.

00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:49.999
Because, you can, you can cycle in minutes. We
don’t know exactly what causes Bipolar disorder,

00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:54.999
what we do know is that there seems to
be a very strong biological basis to it.

00:37:55.000 --> 00:37:59.999
Probably a genetic basis to it. That we
know that it tends to run in families.

00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:04.999
Moira is the youngest of six children.
Her father suffers from depression

00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:09.999
and her grandmother had Bipolar Disorder.
So, there are several clues

00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:14.999
umm… not the least of which
is a response to medication

00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:19.999
for individuals with Bipolar Disorder, that
suggest that this is very much biologically based

00:38:20.000 --> 00:38:24.999
not something caused by
traumatic experiences,

00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:29.999
bad parenting et cetera.

00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:34.999
Show me what’s going. Awesome. Bipolar disorder is
the least common of all mood disorders in youth.

00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:39.999
It often appears in late
adolescence or early adulthood.

00:38:40.000 --> 00:38:44.999
Moira remembers like becoming
difficult as early as grade six.

00:38:45.000 --> 00:38:49.999
First, came the fears.
Then, Mindra Tron (ph)

00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:54.999
this girl she was kidnapped and she’s beaten
and… and dropped off in one of the parks.

00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:59.999
And I was around the same age as me
at that time and once I heard that,

00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:04.999
I was too scared to go anywhere, I didn’t
want to walk to school, I didn’t do anything,

00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:09.999
I would dwelled on it and then the next thing will come and
then I’ll dwell on that. Moira even became afraid of her horse.

00:39:10.000 --> 00:39:14.999
And then all of a sudden, this was like I was so scared, I couldn’t
even walk to the pen to get him to put his halter on and stuff,

00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:19.999
basically that was the end. My
Bipolar disorders went boom,

00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:24.999
you know, and it just kind of took
over my life in so many ways.

00:39:25.000 --> 00:39:29.999
Moira was also having difficulties in
school. She was tested and diagnosed

00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.999
with ADHD Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder.

00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:39.999
Well, people actually thought I was spoiled little brat umm…
at school and stuff, my teachers in grade six and seven.

00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:44.999
One of the teachers actually called my mom up
and was just like, what is wrong with her.

00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:49.999
She is bouncing all over the class.
Moira couldn’t concentrate

00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:54.999
and couldn’t retain what she did learn which frustrated
her teachers. You know, I’d ask them, like, what it is,

00:39:55.000 --> 00:39:59.999
we just, we knew that you knew you just,
you should have took this in grade seven,

00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:04.999
you know, why you don’t you know we just
did it. Moira ended up in a special class

00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:09.999
for children with learning and behavioral
problems. Many of these children

00:40:10.000 --> 00:40:14.999
who are struggling with mental illness are presenting
in a manner that we unfortunately misunderstand

00:40:15.000 --> 00:40:19.999
as just bratty bad behavior, when in
fact it is a reflection of the illness

00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:24.999
and that was very clear as
Moira’s illness fluctuated

00:40:25.000 --> 00:40:29.999
so did her presentation of brattiness if you
will. And they were putting her in a class room

00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:34.999
and for two weeks to isolate from the other
kids, as the kids are going by mocking her.

00:40:35.000 --> 00:40:39.999
Being punished for, being ill, I guess you
could say. I think people tried to blame me

00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:44.999
like when I went to the schools. I think they
actually looked at me like, oh, you know,

00:40:45.000 --> 00:40:49.999
I mean, you got a spoiled child here after all she is,
you know, your number six and we are very devoted family

00:40:50.000 --> 00:40:54.999
and but I had enough
confidence in myself that,

00:40:55.000 --> 00:40:59.999
no I have done well with my family,
I… umm… I know my daughter,

00:41:00.000 --> 00:41:04.999
I have a beautiful daughter. Yes, I’m
guilty of spoiling all six of my kids but,

00:41:05.000 --> 00:41:09.999
that isn’t the way this the spoiled ones
turn out there is something more to this.

00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:14.999
It would be years before
Marie, knew what this was.

00:41:15.000 --> 00:41:19.999
Bipolar disorder is a very difficult diagnosis to
make because it looks like so many other things

00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:24.999
by age 13, Moira was desperate.

00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:29.999
I was ready to say this is it, you
know, I’m done this life because,

00:41:30.000 --> 00:41:34.999
you know, I was probably like, what was I was
probably I think 13 ready to commit suicide.

00:41:35.000 --> 00:41:39.999
You know, and I mean, that’s not normal.
The next four years

00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:44.999
were a nightmare for her family unable
to cope with school Moira dropped out,

00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:49.999
admitted several times to the adult psychiatric
ward of Colonel General. She ran away.

00:41:50.000 --> 00:41:54.999
She was umm… quite aggressive
with those around her.

00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:59.999
She was verbally aggressive with those around
her and she was very unstable and unsettled

00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:04.999
and seriously struggling from what
was clearly some mental illness

00:42:05.000 --> 00:42:09.999
that we weren’t yet sure what it was. Then,
Moira took a turn for the worse much worse.

00:42:10.000 --> 00:42:14.999
She experienced a life
threatening manic episode.

00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:19.999
I just want to leave here, I she would
say… I’m just leaving, I’m just leaving

00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:24.999
and I said, No, I’d, you really can’t leave right
now.” And then I phoned the doctor and he said,

00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:29.999
you know, “you’re going to have to get her in.” And he
said, I want you to give her three pills of Ativan,

00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:34.999
three pills of Ativan would
knock me down uh… definitely.

00:42:35.000 --> 00:42:39.999
She was about 100 pounds and
it was not doing anything.

00:42:40.000 --> 00:42:44.999
So, I phoned the RCMP and said, I’m,

00:42:45.000 --> 00:42:49.999
I think I’m going to need some help so
this, she huge 300 pound RCMP walked in

00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:54.999
and he looked her like little hundred pound
little girl and she say I don’t need back up

00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:59.999
and he hung up the phone.
And, obviously he had never

00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:04.999
worked with a person with Bipolar before.
He had an awful time

00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:09.999
getting her to the car and when we got to
the hospital she was still trying to escape

00:43:10.000 --> 00:43:14.999
and she looked at me and she said
mom, why won’t you let me die?

00:43:15.000 --> 00:43:19.999
I knew my daughter was going manic and
she was going… trying to kill herself.

00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:24.999
I couldn’t let her go. I would not let her go. And
then, I told please, that you can’t let her go,

00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:29.999
you have to help me. And him, and her
and I took her to the second floor

00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:34.999
and he was so big and she even got him down
on the elevator floor, she held him down.

00:43:35.000 --> 00:43:39.999
Like, I kind of took down a
300 pound cop because of it.

00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:44.999
And they… the blue of her eyes a bright
blue had actually turned white and she,

00:43:45.000 --> 00:43:49.999
you could tell that her whole body was
in just terrible disarray like it

00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:54.999
was vibrating almost. It didn’t, it didn’t take much
to look at her and say that this young person body

00:43:55.000 --> 00:43:59.999
like I kept saying to myself, quite soon have a heart
attack. Because, her body was just going all out of,

00:44:00.000 --> 00:44:04.999
just so dramatic to have
that, to be that manic.

00:44:05.000 --> 00:44:09.999
For Moira’s mom, the day Moira was committed
to the, Adult Psychod was so upsetting,

00:44:10.000 --> 00:44:14.999
it seared in her memory. But, Moira
remembers little. At the end I was done

00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:19.999
and yeah, so I’m just like
I need to go for a nap.

00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:24.999
So, I… they took me in ICU
and all of a sudden click

00:44:25.000 --> 00:44:29.999
and they shut the door because that’s what it kind of sounded me
so it shuts. My brother is like all scared this is the first time,

00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:34.999
he’s ever been in there. I’m like
yeah I just need a nap I went in

00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:39.999
and that was the end of that and I was in there
for another four weeks. So it was a big long nap.

00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:44.999
Because of the severity of Moira’s
illness, she was placed in a locked

00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:49.999
observation room where staff could ensure
her safety. Most children and teens

00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:54.999
who suffer from Bipolar Disorder
can be treated in a community.

00:44:55.000 --> 00:44:59.999
Only severe cases like Moira’s need hospitalization,
it was during these four weeks in hospital.

00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:04.999
Moira began taking medication
that stabilized her condition.

00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:09.999
There is a class of medication
called mood stabilizers

00:45:10.000 --> 00:45:14.999
that are used to assist the individual with reducing
those fluctuating moods very often to the point

00:45:15.000 --> 00:45:19.999
where they don’t experience fluctuating
moods outside of the normal range.

00:45:20.000 --> 00:45:24.999
Vitamins too. I do take my vitamins.

00:45:25.000 --> 00:45:29.999
Moira’s medications continue to be adjusted
and she hopes to begin talk therapy soon.

00:45:30.000 --> 00:45:34.999
Hi Moira. Hey, how is it going?

00:45:35.000 --> 00:45:39.999
Young people like Moira can benefit from cognitive
behavioral therapy or interpersonal cycle therapy

00:45:40.000 --> 00:45:44.999
that helps her deal with secondary
problems that arise from their illness.

00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:49.999
Low self esteem, difficulties
with school functioning,

00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:54.999
significantly disrupted family functioning these
things need to be addressed in addition to treating

00:45:55.000 --> 00:45:59.999
the core problem itself the
Bipolar disorder. In a mean time,

00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:04.999
Moira continues to rely on her mother who’s
been her life line throughout her illness

00:46:05.000 --> 00:46:09.999
and on the support of her family. I don’t really
hangout with friends and stuff like that.

00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:14.999
I only have my family like,
there is so many of us like,

00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:19.999
I have 19 people in my family and, you know,
there’s kids and stuff and they keep you so busy

00:46:20.000 --> 00:46:24.999
sometimes you think well
what’s the point of friends.

00:46:25.000 --> 00:46:29.999
Like many teens with mental illness. Moira’s
Bipolar disorder has cost her, years of her life.

00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:34.999
You lose a school year, you lose
your friends you’re off the team

00:46:35.000 --> 00:46:39.999
and you don’t have the normal development
you would’ve had during that time.

00:46:40.000 --> 00:46:44.999
If you are an adult and you’re off work for three
months with depression when you come back to work

00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:49.999
somebody has done your job and
you pick up and you carry on.

00:46:50.000 --> 00:46:54.999
If you are teenager and you’ve missed three months of
school and you come back they won’t last terms work.

00:46:55.000 --> 00:46:59.999
For the first time in four years,
Moira looks forward to her future.

00:47:00.000 --> 00:47:04.999
She is registered at Okanagan University
College to complete her grade 12.

00:47:05.000 --> 00:47:09.999
So, this is a Math class, that’s going on at
the moment which – Fiona Neil (ph) coordinates

00:47:10.000 --> 00:47:14.999
disability services at the college. Individual
attention from the instructors. My bipolar may…

00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:19.999
maybe one day, it might be too stressful.

00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:24.999
We can help elevate that stress
perhaps by assisting at exam time

00:47:25.000 --> 00:47:29.999
and maybe the use of a quiet distraction free
environment in which to take your exams.

00:47:30.000 --> 00:47:34.999
Now the challenge for Moira is to accept that
it’s safe to let Moira grow more independent.

00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:39.999
Do you remember when your babies were
sick and you pack them around all day

00:47:40.000 --> 00:47:44.999
and then they’d get better and you put the towel all
way, and the kid wants to be packed around all the time.

00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:49.999
And that’s what you have to be very careful
of with Bipolar. Because of the severity

00:47:50.000 --> 00:47:54.999
of her Bipolar Disorder her family knows there is a
chance Moira, will have to be hospitalized again.

00:47:55.000 --> 00:47:59.999
This is the worst place, you
don’t want to be in here.

00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:04.999
The room over there, it’s that one I
think that one the one over there,

00:48:05.000 --> 00:48:09.999
it’s got a toilet and everything like that in it so
once you are in there they shut the door and lock it.

00:48:10.000 --> 00:48:14.999
This is not something anybody else is for.
But when you get it and when you have it

00:48:15.000 --> 00:48:19.999
you must deal with it. Parents and …
Moira’s experience in the adult psychod

00:48:20.000 --> 00:48:24.999
was so traumatizing. She and her
mother are helping raise five million

00:48:25.000 --> 00:48:29.999
for a new adolescent friendly floor
at Colonel General hospital,

00:48:30.000 --> 00:48:34.999
exclusively for children and teen mental health.
Adolescents admitted to an inpatient unit,

00:48:35.000 --> 00:48:39.999
designed for adolescents are admitted into an
environment that is designed to be youth friendly,

00:48:40.000 --> 00:48:44.999
it is non-institutional. One of the neatest
things I think about this whole facility

00:48:45.000 --> 00:48:49.999
will be the new class room, which will be a smart
class room, it’d be wired, we’ll have the technology

00:48:50.000 --> 00:48:54.999
to link to other class rooms within the school
district. So, kids who are in for the 7 to 21 day,

00:48:55.000 --> 00:48:59.999
residential stay will be able to stay involved in their
studies, keep connected with their friends at school

00:49:00.000 --> 00:49:04.999
and their teachers. And then they won’t get
behind and stuff. And you have no idea

00:49:05.000 --> 00:49:09.999
what this does for a mother, who has been in
a situation where her daughter had nowhere

00:49:10.000 --> 00:49:14.999
and I had to bring her to that situation.
This is like a five star resort.

00:49:15.000 --> 00:49:19.999
You know, she has been saved. She really
has, she has been saved from death,

00:49:20.000 --> 00:49:24.999
she has been saved from so many things.
She is going to be somebody…

00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:29.999
she’s going to be a shining star. Not
all battles with depression offer

00:49:30.000 --> 00:49:34.999
as much hope as Moira’s.

00:49:35.000 --> 00:49:39.999
[music]

00:49:40.000 --> 00:49:44.999
Kerry and Ginny Dennehy Wissler
lost their son to depression.

00:49:45.000 --> 00:49:49.999
The Illness first appeared

00:49:50.000 --> 00:49:54.999
when the family was on a cruise
celebrating the millennium.

00:49:55.000 --> 00:49:59.999
We were actually down in the cabin in the bowls
of the ship and he told me he didn’t feel well

00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:04.999
and actually looked at me with a wild
glare in his eyes and told me that,

00:50:05.000 --> 00:50:09.999
he didn’t know what was wrong with him, he
was going to throw himself off the ship,

00:50:10.000 --> 00:50:14.999
I had to bar the door
after I barred the door

00:50:15.000 --> 00:50:19.999
he sat down in the bunk and he broke
down and told me if he’d being,

00:50:20.000 --> 00:50:24.999
I mean, attacked by what they refer to as the
black dog. Over the next year and a half

00:50:25.000 --> 00:50:29.999
Kelty was hounded by the black dog of depression.
He went from being an outgoing successful student

00:50:30.000 --> 00:50:34.999
at Saskatchewan’s renowned Notre
Dame College to a terrified recluse.

00:50:35.000 --> 00:50:39.999
And he says mom, he’s says I don’t just don’t
want to have these thoughts in my head.

00:50:40.000 --> 00:50:44.999
I want them all to go away. So, we
had to ask all of his friends to go

00:50:45.000 --> 00:50:49.999
and they all left and we just,
I just had Kelty and I.

00:50:50.000 --> 00:50:54.999
I lay with him in bed
and… I’m saying too alone

00:50:55.000 --> 00:50:59.999
I told him it would be okay and
we would take care of him.

00:51:00.000 --> 00:51:04.999
But Dennehy saw counselors and
doctors Kelty was put on medication,

00:51:05.000 --> 00:51:09.999
but nothing took away his pain. Don’t worry I
will be watching you from the heavens above.

00:51:10.000 --> 00:51:14.999
Heaven is a better place than Earth, since
I love you mom, dad, family and friends.

00:51:15.000 --> 00:51:19.999
Kelty wrote this note to his parents

00:51:20.000 --> 00:51:24.999
just before he killed himself. No research
will ever understand my depression,

00:51:25.000 --> 00:51:29.999
my depression was in my mind,
god bless you, love Kelty.

00:51:30.000 --> 00:51:34.999
In his note he said that, no research will understand
depression well that’s where Kelty was wrong

00:51:35.000 --> 00:51:39.999
and that we are putting money towards
research if we can save one child’s life

00:51:40.000 --> 00:51:44.999
it’s all worth it. The Dennehy’s
have formed the Kelty foundation

00:51:45.000 --> 00:51:49.999
in memory of their son. It’s one
of several foundations in BC

00:51:50.000 --> 00:51:54.999
dedicated to fighting depression, in two and
a half years, their foundation has raised

00:51:55.000 --> 00:51:59.999
three quarters of a million dollars.
The money is divided

00:52:00.000 --> 00:52:04.999
amongst treatment, research and education.
We knew nothing about this,

00:52:05.000 --> 00:52:09.999
we were parents who have never experienced this before.
Unfortunately, we know a lot more now about it

00:52:10.000 --> 00:52:14.999
and umm… we know a lot more now

00:52:15.000 --> 00:52:19.999
we want to try to help anybody else
not travel the same journey we did.

00:52:20.000 --> 00:52:24.999
A large part of their foundations work is educating
teens. The problem with teens and children

00:52:25.000 --> 00:52:29.999
is it that they do not have
the experience to know

00:52:30.000 --> 00:52:34.999
that the sun will come up tomorrow. Given that
40% of depressed kids will confide in a friend

00:52:35.000 --> 00:52:39.999
while only 5% will confide in a parent,
that Dennehy’s plan to fund a program

00:52:40.000 --> 00:52:44.999
called partners for life based upon
a successful program in Quebec.

00:52:45.000 --> 00:52:49.999
Teens are trained to help depressed friends
find the resources they need to get better.

00:52:50.000 --> 00:52:54.999
Research suggest teaching skills to
identify and cope with depression

00:52:55.000 --> 00:52:59.999
actually decreases the incidents of the
illness. These skills involve knowing yourself,

00:53:00.000 --> 00:53:04.999
assessing your level of stress, having good
stress coping abilities ranging from exercise

00:53:05.000 --> 00:53:09.999
to self talk, having good problem solving
skills when something isn’t working

00:53:10.000 --> 00:53:14.999
how do I tackle this, who
do I go to for help.

00:53:15.000 --> 00:53:19.999
The ministry of children
and family development

00:53:20.000 --> 00:53:24.999
is creating a web based self care
depression program for team.

00:53:25.000 --> 00:53:29.999
Dr. Dan Bilsker works with graphic artist
Christy Hill to create the website.

00:53:30.000 --> 00:53:34.999
Is one of the real strong messages we got back
from focus groups we did with teenagers was

00:53:35.000 --> 00:53:39.999
we don’t like looking at a great big block of text
that’s…. It’s modeled on his successful adult program

00:53:40.000 --> 00:53:44.999
that’s used worldwide. The self help tool

00:53:45.000 --> 00:53:49.999
uses the principles of
cognitive behavioral therapy.

00:53:50.000 --> 00:53:54.999
Through a series of written
activities and exercises.

00:53:55.000 --> 00:53:59.999
Teens will learn how to recognize negative
thoughts and replace them with positive thinking.

00:54:00.000 --> 00:54:04.999
So what we do here is take someone through a
structured problem solving that really shows them

00:54:05.000 --> 00:54:09.999
how to cope more effectively with the problems in their
life, how to generate different kinds of solutions,

00:54:10.000 --> 00:54:14.999
how to evaluate their solutions, how to distinguish
and assert of response from a passive one

00:54:15.000 --> 00:54:19.999
these are all really important aspects of
then planning what you are going to do,

00:54:20.000 --> 00:54:24.999
about the problems you are facing. The
program will be available on the internet

00:54:25.000 --> 00:54:29.999
as well as in hard copy
to anyone free of charge.

00:54:30.000 --> 00:54:34.999
When a child or teen is depressed,
the entire family suffers.

00:54:35.000 --> 00:54:39.999
To emerge from that cocoon of sadness
and pain takes tremendous effort.

00:54:40.000 --> 00:54:44.999
But for the most part, the
work pays off with treatment,

00:54:45.000 --> 00:54:49.999
children and teens can get better. Keep
strong, believe in yourself because,

00:54:50.000 --> 00:54:54.999
if you don’t believe in yourself, nobody else
will. There is no such thing as being cared.

00:54:55.000 --> 00:54:59.999
You know, you live with it
for the rest of your life,

00:55:00.000 --> 00:55:04.999
you may have it, so that
it’s easier to go to bed,

00:55:05.000 --> 00:55:09.999
it’s easier to put on clothes and get out
of house, it’s easier to calm yourself down

00:55:10.000 --> 00:55:14.999
but there’s no such things being cared. I don’t want
anything out of life, I just want to, just leave me alone.

00:55:15.000 --> 00:55:19.999
But now I really I got goals,
I want to go to college,

00:55:20.000 --> 00:55:24.999
I want to have a family,
I want to be happy,

00:55:25.000 --> 00:55:29.999
I just I want to, I want…

00:55:30.000 --> 00:55:34.999
whatever everybody else want
to live life, you know,

00:55:35.000 --> 00:55:39.999
all the normal things. For
more information about

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mental health resources mentioned in this
documentary or to access in depth articles,

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links, videos and more. Visit our
website at knowledgenetwork. ca

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and click on knowledge tools where you’ll find
taking care child and youth mental health.