Depression Family

Nanette O'Hare is an unassuming teen who has played the role of dutiful daughter, hardworking student, and star athlete for as long as she can remember. But when a beloved teacher gives her his worn copy of The Bugglegum Reaper - a mysterious, out-of-print cult classic - the rebel within Nanette awakens.

After 17-year-old David is forced to stand trial for his girlfriend's death, he is sent to live with his aunt and uncle and their young daughter, Lily, to avoid the media frenzy. But all is not well at his relatives' house. His aunt and uncle are not speaking to each other, and Lily seems dead set on making David's life a torment. And then there's the issue of their older daughter, Kathy, who died under mysterious circumstances a number of years back.

If Susie Jamieson can't take a selfie, she checks her reflection in windows, spoons, car chrome - anything available, really. So when her mother gives her an exquisite full-length mirror that once belonged to her grandmother, Sukie is thrilled. So thrilled that she doesn't listen to her mother's warning: "This mirror will be your best friend and worst enemy."

When David’s parents present him with a hot Companion bot designed to encourage healthy bonds and treat “dissociative disorder,” he can’t get enough of luscious, redheaded Rose; and he can’t get it soon enough. Companions come with strict intimacy protocols, and whenever he tries anything, David gets an electric shock. Severed from the boy she was built to love, Rose turns to Charlie, who finds he can open up to her, knowing that she isn’t real.

Sixteen-year-old Jude has to get out of tiny Churchtown. She has to escape her outcast status at the Royal Duchy School and her pathetic dad, who hasn’t gotten past her mum’s death. The only bright light is drama, her way out, if only she can get into the Lab in London. It takes a lot of nerve to apply to such a prestigious program, and Jude’s not sure she can do it. Then Jude’s childhood best friend, Stella, returns. Stella, sexy and bold, and 10 times cooler than Jude. With Stella by her side, Jude knows she’s capable of anything. But Stella’s influence extends well beyond the theater.

Mann is only 13, yet he has already had to deal with more than most go through in a lifetime. His family is still reeling from the tragic shooting death of his little brother, Jason, each person coping with grief in his or her own way.

Micah and Sesame are true best friends. They safeguard each other’s secrets and entwine their dreams. Micah wants to save his parents from the cult leader who calls himself “the Prophet.” Sesame recently lost the last of her own family - her grandmother - and, to avoid foster care, plans to keep a low profile until she turns 18. Together, they never doubt they can build the futures they want. Until Micah disappears. The Prophet has taken Micah, his parents, and the rest of his followers underground.

Eighteen-year-old Indigo Skye feels like she has it all – a waitress job she loves, and adorable refrigerator-delivery-guy boyfriend, and a home life that’s slightly crazed but rich in love. Until a mysterious man at the restaurant leaves her a 2.5-million-dollar tip, and her life as she knew it is transformed.

Scarlett Hughes is overly involved in the lives of everyone around her, especially her neighbors, including: a young goth girl who chalks her very traditional wishes on the sidewalk; a forgetful mailman; and an older couple whose main excitement in their lives are the formal-sounding scam emails from foreign lands promising large sums of money.

If Hamlet thought he had issues, he should have talked to Cooper Warner. His mother's normally sunny demeanor has turned into something homicidal. And whats worse, she has help in her hunt for Cooper: A ravenous monster living at the bottom of the old well in the woods behind their house. She's determined to deliver her 14-year-old son straight into the creatures eager clutches.

Keir Sarafian insists he did nothing wrong. But no one will believe that he's the good guy he knows he is - no one except his father, Ray. And Ray is just the person Keir has to leave in order to have the fresh start he deserves. Now at Carnegie College, Keir's life isn't what he thought it would be. Two soccer players are poised to take his spot as kicker. Ray keeps calling, and Joyce, his guiding light on campus, seems to be avoiding him. When tragedy strikes, will Keir finally be able to confront his past actions and realize his potential?

“I’ve got my entire life planned out for the next 10 years - including my PhD and Pulitzer Prize,” claims 16-year-old overachiever Vassar Spore, the daughter of overachiever parents, who named her after an elite women’s college. Vassar expects her sophomore summer to include both AP and AAP (Advanced Advanced Placement) classes. Surprise! Enter a world-traveling relative who sends her plans into a tailspin when she blackmails Vassar’s parents into forcing their only child to backpack with her through Southeast Asia.

Gemma had her summer all planned out, but it takes sharp turn when she gets dumped and finds herself back in the Hamptons after a five-year absence. Being there puts her at risk of bumping into Hallie, her former best friend (that is, before Gemma ruined her life). But people don’t hold grudges forever. Do they? Gemma intends on making amends, but a small case of mistaken identity causes the people she knew years ago - including Hallie and her dreamy brother Josh - to believe she’s someone else. As though the summer wasn’t complicated enough already.

Quinn is surrounded by women with broken hearts. Between her mother, her aunt, and her grandmother, Quinn hears nothing but cautionary tales. Then she gets dumped and starts to wonder if there really are no good men. It doesn't help when Quinn discovers that her selfish, womanizing father has stolen more from the women in his life than their hearts. Quinn joins forces with the stepsisters she's never met and sets out to right her father's wrongs.

Following the birth of both of her sons, instead of reveling in the most joyous time of her life, Namita fell into the darkest and heaviest of post-natal depressions. She vowed that if she survived and healed through this most harrowing chapter in her life, she would rise up, break the stigma and hold that this has on women, and share her story to inspire and create hope for others and their families navigating their way through this journey.

Laura Canty is a new mum. She has her beautiful baby boy, Arthur, and a wonderful husband. She has new mum friends on the local WhatsApp group, and everyone in her life is supportive and happy for her. But Laura doesn't see it this way. In the weeks since her baby was born, like one in five women, Laura has developed post-natal depression. In fact, she has decided that the only way out of her current situation is for her to kill herself or her baby.

Some experts say that depression and anxiety are the new normal. Suicide is the second leading cause of death in young people. As parents, we cannot accept this. Many young people feel helpless and hopeless. Our kids must be equipped with more than resilience and positivity. They need hope. Hope for a future. Along with her daughter Kendra, parent and family educator Lori Wildenberg encourages you to take the practical ways offered in Messy Hope to foster necessary hope growth in your children’s hearts.

Everyone eventually leaves Wren Plumley. First it was her mother, then her best friend, and then her sister. Now living with only her cop father and her upended dreams, Wren feels stranded, like a songbird falling in a storm. When Wilder, a sickly housebound teen, moves in next door, Wren finally finds what she’s always wanted - a person who can’t leave. But a chance meeting with Luca, the talkative, crush-worthy boy in her driver’s ed class, has Wren wondering if maybe she’s too quick to push people away.

Paul Adams is the shortest kid at his high school, and the school bullies relentlessly pick on him. He spends the entire day wishing school would end so he can escape to his favorite sport of rock climbing. Lily Small is athletic, attractive, and, despite her last name, is actually very tall. Another kid, who looks almost like a grown man, introduces himself with a long Polynesian name, but says everyone calls him "Big," and he seems to like the nickname! As they get to know each other, Paul, Big, and Small discover they have a lot in common as outsiders in their high school.

Sam Jones and Zoe Miller have one thing in common: they both want an escape from reality. Loner Sam flies under the radar at school and walks on eggshells at home to manage her mom’s obsessive-compulsive disorder, wondering how she can ever leave to pursue her dream of studying aerospace engineering. Popular, people-pleasing Zoe puts up walls so no one can see her true self: the girl who was abandoned as an infant, whose adoptive mother has cancer, and whose disabled brother is being sent away to live in a facility.