Beyond the Blues: Child and Youth Depression
Fighting Their Fears: Child and Youth Anxiety 2004
Distributed by National Film Board of Canada, 1123 Broadway, Suite 307, New York, NY 10010; 800-542-2164
Produced by Open Learning Agency
Directed by Maureen Palmer (Beyond the Blues); Melanie Wood (Fighting Their Fears)
VHS, color, 56 min.
Jr. High - Adult
Adolescence, Psychology
Date Entered: 09/08/2005
Reviewed by Lauren Hodge, Huddleston Bolen LLP Law LibraryBeyond the Blues tells the stories of three adolescents and their struggles with depressive disorders. One teen suffers from severe depressive episodes, another teen suffers from general depression, and the third suffers from bipolar disorder. The teens and their families share their experiences, symptoms, and treatments. The teens’ stories are interrupted periodically by psychologists and other mental health professionals who explain various symptoms, causes, and treatments for depression.
Fighting Their Fears takes a similar approach, except that the focus is on anxiety disorders. Three teens share their experiences with generalized anxiety, panic attacks, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Again, various mental health professionals interrupt the teens’ stories to explain causes, symptoms and treatment of anxiety.
The content of the videos does an excellent job of explaining depression and anxiety, and what it is like to live with these disorders. The professionals do a great job of explaining the science of depression and anxiety, and the adolescents’ personal experiences put a human face on the disorders. I recommend these videos for anyone ages jr. high through adult who would like a good overview of what it is like to live with depression or anxiety.