The Effects of Teen Depression

Cause/Effect Essay
The Effects of Teen Depression Teenage Depression is becoming larger in today’s society. The media portrays anyone larger than a pencil to be fat. The youth in schools only hang out with the people they know and like, but one wrong decision and the can decide to no longer be friends with that person. Many factors can lead to a teen’s depression, but what happens after the become depressed? Most teenagers are basically the same. They have the same wants to be accepted by their peers. When the peers of a teenager reject them, the teenager can be emotionally harmed. This could be one factor causing teenage depression. One should know the most common effects plus the more serious ones like suicide, eating disorders, and substance abuse. Some of the most common effects of teen depression are withdrawal from friends and normal activities, personal infliction of harm, and violence. Teens withdraw because they think that their friends are the ones who no longer care about them. They need support so they go find another crowd. This crowd could be wrong for them. They could can them feel less about themself becaouse their image doesn’t fit in with the groups. This could cause eating disorders or the start of substance abuse. Many teens try to take out the anger they feel inside on themselves. They don’t use the correct means of expressing their feelings so they do physical harm to themselves. Violence can happen when a depressed teen backlashes whenever anyone does something they don’t like. The teen has a limited amount of patience and once it’s gone, the violence happens. One of the most important and serious effects of teen depression is suicidal thoughts and attempts. The worst thing a teen can do because of their depression is suicide. Not only do they decide to end their own life, they harm others while doing it. The family will feel extreme pain and will question a lot of things. The friends of the person will feel somewhat betrayed that they didn’t talk to them about the pain inside. Suicide is the permanent cause for a non-permanent problem. The teens that experience suicidal thoughts are not all the same. Their problems are not all caused by the same thing. Some are caused by bullies and others are caused by the loss of a loved one. The best way to prevent the attempt of suicide is to make the teen feel loved and accepted by their peers. Stop the bullying and stand up for one another. Sit a person down and tell them that there are people there for them in this hard time. Eating Disorders are some of the effects of bullying and today’s society. Our society today shows that skinny people is the only way to look and fit in. This causes teenagers to believe that their body should be small. When a teenager who is of the larger size walks down the halls and is surrounded by classmates who are size zero, they feel out of place. They want to be that small. This causes them to want to lose weight and maybe not in the healthy way. This want to fit in with today’s society and normal size is unhealthy. Today’s teenagers should not be worried about how they look. When teens realize that they are not achieving this goal of looking like the popular group, they become depressed and start doing the worst thing. They continue these unhealthy activities. All these teens need to be told is that they are perfect just the way they are. They do not need to conform to today’s society and that being you and looking just the way they look is the best way to live. This reassurance could help them feel welcomed and more loved. Substance abuse is a common but serious effect of teen depression. They rely on these substances to get them through the pain. They use drugs to give them a high that they want to feel in an emotionless world that they fell like they are living in. The bad thing about the drugs, it’s illegal and fake. There is no permanent relief and this need for constant high causes and addiction to form. The alcohol side of substance abuse is just as bad as the drugs. The teen uses alcohol to mask the pain. They use it to take them to another place, a place that is far away from this depression that they are in. The most important thing a person can do is be a positive influence in these teens’ lives. The teenagers may not listen to others but they just might listen to that one person who is just always there doing the right thing. Teenage Depression is a serious subject that has several effects. The most important thing that a person should remember about teenage depression is that a single action of kindness or care can help that teen start to recover from this depression that they are battling. When a person is there for that one teenager, they may never know that the teenager used the influences of that person to become better. The healthiest living is a happy life. The teenage years are where habits form and grow. The best way to prevent any type of depression from turning into a possible thing that can return in the future is to show others the type of love that everyone deserves.