This is a qualitative, descriptive and exploratory research performed on 6 adolescents, between the ages of 12 and 18 years, male and female, who had been diagnosed with depression and were being treated at the Centro de Atenção Psicossocial Infantil (Children's Center for the Psychic-Social Attention) in Cascavel, PR, Brazil. Its objective was to investigate the feelings the adolescents had for this pathology and their knowledge about the illness. An interview with 10 open and 2 closed questions was utilized. It was clear that there was fragmented knowledge about depression, which was defined by means of the reports as behavioral alterations. The family relationship emerged as the complementary theme during the interviews, since the adolescents coexist with many family attritions which predispose them to depression.
Adolescent; Depression; Psychological stress