Teenage Depression

Teenagers deal with more problems than people may think. One teenager, as described by an article, dealing with depression was sixteen and is named Jennifer. Jennifer is older now but the memories of her depression will stick with her the rest of her life. The cause of depression can be many different things that are going on in their lives. In Jennifer’s case it was the way that she looked, so she took diet pills. Something inside of her was missing, so Jennifer took diet pills to fix the emptiness she was experiencing. Jennifer wasn’t weird; she was the average American girl. Jennifer had a lot of friends, a boyfriend that cared for her, and a mom and dad that loved her. People thought Jennifer was perfect, but on the inside she was experiencing something that she didn’t like. Jennifer felt like life wasn’t worth living. Nobody knew that Jennifer was suffering from depression, not even Jennifer. One night after taking too many diet pills, Jennifer went into her parent’s room and then they took her to the hospital. To find out that Jennifer almost had a “drug-induced stroke” and suffered form sever depression (Aprile). Similar stories like Jennifer’s story happen every day, where the teenager doesn’t even know they have depression and neither do the people around them until it is too late. The definition of teenage depression is, “an emotional state marked by sadness, discouragement and loss of self-worth that occurs during the teenage years.” (Adolescent-Overview). Teenage depression has become a major problem in more than six percent of teenagers between the ages of nine to seventeen years of that have some type of depression (National Institute of Mental Health). In order to prevent teenage depression people must be aware of the people that can help the teenager overcome their depression, the cause of depression, the symptoms that can be spotted, and the treatment for teenagers that can’t over come depression. Once people are aware about teenage depression they can help prevent depression before it starts. Teenage depression is a major problem among teens, but in order to understand depression you must know what causes depression. The cause of teenager depression varies among teens. Not everyone has the same problems going on in his or her life like another person. The cause can be almost anything that is happening to the teenager, or something that is going on in the teenagers’ life at that moment. Stress can be one of the causes for the depression (National Institute of Mental Health). While experiencing the change form childhood to adulthood, the teenage body goes through a lot of changes, which can be a depressing event for the teenager (Adol. Dep. Overview). The death of a person, who the teenager cared for, can cause depression. The death of a loved one may cause the person to become sad, which is normal, but there is a point where that sadness can turn into depression. Sometimes a cause can be an “illness,” “abuse,” and other events that cause a major change in some ones life (National Institute of Mental Health). Some of the major causes of depression are, “a breakup with a boyfriend or girlfriend, failure at school, or for no apparent reason (Adol. Dep). Another major cause can be, if the teenager is worried about the way that he or she looks to the point of getting depressed (Weeldreyer 7). Weeldreyer says that one of the major causes in teenage girls, who are at more risk to get depressed than boys, is their appearance (8). This can be a cause because the teenage girl thinks they have to be thin and beautiful as portrayed in the world. Depression can be caused by any number of things that happened in the life of a teenager. Nothing too big or too small can stop you from getting depressed; it can be anything that triggers depression. It is o.k. to be sad, which everyone gets sad at one point or another, because you can’t prevent that from happening. There is a point were the sadness gets to a point of depression in teens. To tell if a teenager is having depression you must know the symptoms to spot the depression. Some teenagers or the people close to them may not even be aware that the teenager is suffering from depression. If people are aware of the symptoms that come along with depression they will be able to tell if they are suffering from depression. The symptoms of depression can be different for each teenager. One of the most common symptoms is the change in the way the teenager acts everyday (Larson 1101). One minute the teenager is happy and the next the teenager is sad. Also, the teenager, who once enjoyed an activity, doesn’t enjoy the activity anymore (Larson 1101). Another symptom that someone can tell if someone is suffering from depression is that they have been eating a lot or, not eating at all, which results in a weight change (Larson 1101). Instead of going to bed at night the teenager stays up because he or she can’t sleep, or just sleep way too much (National Institute of Mental Health). Also, other symptoms can be “loss of energy”; feeling like they can’t do anything, and the teenagers’ attention span is bad (National Institute of Mental Health). Also another symptom may also be that the teen can’t remember certain things, feelings of “guilt”, thought about killing themselves, and tries or plans to kill themselves (Adol. Dep. Symp.) Some symptoms are more serious than others, if thoughts of suicide occur; action needs to be taken immediately (Fassler). The National Institute of Mental Health says, “In 1997 suicide was the third leading cause of death in ten to twenty-four year olds.” The symptoms of depression don’t last for just one day. The symptoms often last for weeks or even months (Adol. Dep. Symp.). People need to be aware of the symptoms, so they can tell if their teenager is experiencing depression. In knowing the symptoms you can try to help that teenager deal or prevent depression. To prevent depression, the teenager needs to know who can help on those bad days. If something bad happens and you’re experiencing the blues, people can help you so that those sad days won’t turn into depression. A quick fix for those sad days is to “exercise” because your body produces antidepressants called endorphin, which is released when exercising (Carter 39). “The Teenager Quick Action Plan for Dealing with Depression” has three easy steps to help get over those bad days. Your parents are there for you everyday, and the best thing for the teenager, who is having problems is to tell them what is the matter: your parents will back you up and help you take care of your problems (Teen Quick Action Plan). Also, it is good to spend time with other adults that are close to you and supportive of you (Teen Quick Action Plan). Sometimes teenagers have too much stress in there life, which can get depressing (Teen Quick Action Plan). Parents need to be aware of the symptoms of depression and be able to identify if their teenager is having depression (Fassler). Recognizing depression in teenagers is harder because the symptoms experienced differs National Institute of Mental Health). If the parents see that their teenager isn’t being their selves the parent needs to talk with them to try to make the problem better before it gets worse, like turning into depression. Sometimes teenage depression can’t be prevented, and in those cases treatment can help teenagers get over depression. The National Institute of Mental Health says, “between eighty and ninety percent of teenagers with depression—even the most serious forms can be helped.” Depression in teenagers may not go away on its own, that’s why if depression is “untreated” the depression can last for a long time (Larson 1101). There are a lot of treatments available, but there is always a need to make new discoveries to make the therapy and medication more effective (National Institute of Mental Health). Teenagers who experience less sever cases of depression should go through therapy (Adol. Dep. Trtmt.). There are many types of therapy that a teenager with depression can go through. Fassler says that the two types of therapy that are effective are family therapy and individual therapy. The National Institute of Mental Health did a test to see which type of therapy was more affective and cognitive behavioral therapy had a sixty-five percent of treatment rate. Recurring depression is very common, which is why teenagers should continue to see a psychiatrist for at least six months (National Institute of Mental Health). The teenager may need to take antidepressants along with their therapy (Adol. Dep. Trtmt.). Medication on teenagers should only be used with major depression (National Institute of Mental Health). Some types of antidepressants are serontonin reuptake inhibitors, which are safe and help teen depression, fluoxentine, and paroxetine (National Institute of Mental Health). Some other medication is monoamines, tricydic, and monoamine oxidase inhibitors (Drada). The same type of antidepressant may not work on every person, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t another type of antidepressants that will work (Drada). Depression isn’t treatable in everyone, in these cases depression can be a “life-long illness” (Adol. Dep. Trtmt.). Eighty percent of teens improve their depression when they get the right treatment with medication (Drada). To conclude, depression is not just something adults experience. More and more teenagers are experiencing depression everyday and don’t know what to do. Teenagers need to be aware of who can help them if they are facing depression. The cause of depression can be anything that happens, and if a teenager knows some of the causes of depression they might be able to talk to someone and get their problem fixed before it turns into depression. Some teenagers don’t even know if they have depression and how can you prevent something if you don’t know the symptoms that are experienced with having depression. If teens are aware of who can help them and how they can help themselves, they may be able to prevent depression. Sometimes depression can’t be prevented so in order to have the teenager go back to their normal life they made need treatment with medication, psychiatrist, or maybe both. People need to be aware of teenage depression because being a teenager isn’t easy and teenagers do face problems like everyone else.

Work Cited
>“Adolescent Depression Overview.” 1999 Adam.
> >“Adolescent Depression Symptoms.” 1999 Adam.
> >“Adolescent Depression Treatment.” 1999 Adam.
> >Aprile, Dianne. “Kids and Depression.” Courier Journal. Apr. 1989: H1+ “Mental
> Health” 4:8
>Carter, Sharon; Clayton, Lawrence, PhD. Coping with Depression. New York: 1992.
>Fassler, David G. MD. “Childhood Depression: Early Recognition Leads to Successful
> Treatment.” 1997. American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
> >Klagsbrun, Francine. Too Young to Die. Houghton; Boston 1976.
>Koplow, Lesley, C.S.W., The Way Home. Dutton; Canada 1992.
>Kotulat, Donna, and Connauhton, Dennis. “Depression.” Complete Guide to Your
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>Larson, David E. “Problems in Adolescence.” Mayo Clinic Family Health Book. New
> York: Mayo, 1996: 1101.
>National Institute of Mental Health. “Depression in Children and Adolescents.” 1999.
> >“Teenager Quick Plan For Dealing with Depression.” 1994 Quick Plan.
> >Weeldreyer, Laurs. Body Blues: Weight and Depression. Rosen; New York 1998.

Cited: > >Aprile, Dianne. “Kids and Depression.” Courier Journal. Apr. 1989: H1+ “Mental > Health” 4:8 >Larson, David E. “Problems in Adolescence.” Mayo Clinic Family Health Book. New > York: Mayo, 1996: 1101.