Profile of High-Risk Kids and Teen Mental Health

Boys and girls frequently present differently with respect to anxiety and depression, but they also have a lot of overlapping symptoms. Broadly, boys are less likely to talk about feelings in general, including depression, so tend to keep their mood to themselves and demonstrate a problem with irritability and withdrawal; in contrast, girls often are more verbal and expressive about feelings so may tend to share especially with peers and sometimes with adults their depression and irritation with life. Symptoms such as changes in sleep and appetite are pretty similar for both genders, as are signs such as decreased interest in outside activities, worsening ability to concentrate, and social isolation. Traditionally, girls are much more likely than boys (3:1) to make non-life-threatening suicidal gestures such as taking a small quantity of pills or making shallow cuts on their wrists, whereas boys are far more likely than girls (3:1) to actually complete a suicide; however, this has been changing somewhat over the past 10 years or so, with girls being a bit more likely than they once were to use higher lethality methods of self harm.

Answered by Dr. Glen Elliott, Chief Psychiatrist and Medical Director at CHC