The U.S. Preventative Services Task Force, an influential and independent panel of experts convened by the  federal government which sets guidelines for doctors on various health issues, is now recommending physicians go one step further with teens regarding depression in their medical offices.  The medical panel is suggesting that physicians and pediatricians screen all teens for depression, in addition to routinely asking them if they are or have been suicidal. 

This new step reflects the seriousness of teen depression.   Indeed, the journal Pediatrics in April, indicated that nearly 2 million teens suffer with depression.   That's 6% of American teenagers with clinical depression!  

This is important, because physicians are playing a key role in helping to detect and sometimes treat mental health problems in kids and adolescents.   Routine yearly physicals are a great place for screening and questionairres to be completed about depression, and if there are concerns, adolescents and their parents can enter treatment preventatively before a mental health crisis or serious incident of self-harming occurs.