Some girls are depressed because they have lost their warm, open relationship with their parents. All girls experience pain at this point in their development. If that pain is blamed on themselves, on their own families, it manifests itself as depression. The most severe symptom of depression is suicide. The Center for Disease Control in Atlanta reports that the suicide rate among children age 10 to 14 doubled from 1979 to 1996.
Adolescence is a time when development and culture put enormous stress on girls.
So many things are happening at once that it's hard to label and sort experiences into neat little boxes. And there are many casualties. For example, a girl who is suffering from a mild case of adolescent misery may try to kill herself, not because her life as a totality is so painful, but because she is impulsive, reactive, and unable to put small setbacks in perspective. Some girls are suicidal because of biochemical factors, some because of trauma, and others because of the confusion and difficulty of the times. Obviously they need different kinds of attention, but all are potentially dangerous to themselves and must be taken seriously.