It’s not uncommon for teenagers to say dramatic and emotional things, or even claim they’ll harm others or kill themselves.

But after something terrible happens, said child psychologist and author Lisa Damour, such statements take on a whole new morbid veneer.

The trouble is, how do you separate the trifles of teenage angst from serious signs of danger and depression?

Damour said it’s quite simple.

You ask. And then, if need be, you find help.

“When a child really hurts themselves or somebody else, it’s very hard to say these things come out of the blue,” Damour told the Star on Wednesday.

“Almost invariably they are sending up flags.”

Students and staff at Dunbarton High School in Pickering were reeling after a 14-year-old girl allegedly stabbed and injured seven people there Tuesday morning. Durham Region police later confirmed they are investigating a blog that includes posts from recent weeks and months that include thoughts on suicide, depression and pledges to carry out a stabbing attack at a school. The blog included an entry, since deleted, that promised a school stabbing on the day of the incident.

Entries from the 14-year-old girl's blog

It is unclear whether the alleged school stabber ever needed or received mental health treatment.

“I think we can have a view in our culture that teenagers are dramatic and can kind of go to extremes quickly. That view, which I actually don’t think is fair or helpful,” said Damour, who has not treated the alleged stabber, “actually causes us to miss cases of treatable depression.”

Michael Barrett, chair of the Durham District School Board, said they are “still trying to understand the ramifications” of what happened “and offer supports as well. We take this very seriously, something of this magnitude, this tragedy.”

Staff are trying to help the school “get back to some semblance of normality” over time and also “ensure the individual (charged) is taken care of.”

“It is still early days for us to understand what preventative or remedial action to take,” he said, adding there has been a lot of speculation in the media about what could have possibly led to the incident.

The board’s superintendent of safe schools, John Bowyer, said the board cannot possibly monitor all the online activity of students, but instead works to help them become good digital citizens, “working with staff, developing guidelines with staff around behaviour, what students need to understand … and (understanding) that what they do online should be exactly the same as what they do in social situations.”

Students are also told that if they do see something “disturbing or upsetting (online), they need to come to speak to staff … to come and tell us when there are situations,” he added.

Careen Coetzee, a psychologist who works with troubled youth in Toronto and also has not treated the alleged stabber, said there may have been signs that the alleged stabber needed treatment for depression or other mental health issues, particularly if she was lashing out in anger or being bullied at school. She said the incident highlights a need for more resources to help teenagers with mental health problems, and also to battle the stigma that too often prevents frank discussions of depression.

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“My experience is that the majority of kids that end up doing stuff like this, they have some kind of indication that they’re going to do this,” she said.

“My clients that I see, a lot of them won’t disclose that they’re in therapy. A lot of people won’t disclose that they’re on medication. We need to destigmatize issues of mental health, and kids who are being bullied and feel anxious and are having panic attacks need to be able to talk about it.”