Family relationships and communication

Despite your support and encouragement, it’ll be likely that there’s a limit to how much influence you’ll be able to have on your teenager’s world outside of the home. This is fine for the most part, and part of growing up for every young person.

You may, however, have more influence on what’s going on at home. Some forms of stress for a young person may be affected by relationships and if this is the case, this is something that might be more within your control.

Have a think for a moment about how well people are getting along in the family.

• Are there a lot of arguments?
• Do family members often end up misunderstanding what others are trying to say or what they mean?
• Does your teenager express anger or irritability when speaking to others in the family?
• Are there topics that always seem to lead to arguments?

You may be able to identify opportunities for reducing these types of stressful situations within the family home.

Reducing stress in the home can be another piece of the puzzle in helping with your teen’s depression, and you might want to discuss these ideas with them. The more pieces you have, the greater the chances of success.

• What are their views about how people are getting along in the home?
• Do they recognise any relationship difficulties that then cause them to feel stressed, angry, irritable or low?
• What ideas do they have about helping people to get along more?
• Is there anything they could be doing differently to change this for the better?