Depression in Teenagers: A Growing Problem Essay

However, Melinda feels it to the extreme. Melinda went through a traumatizing experience, and everyone and everything around her contribute to the uncontrollable pain she is feeling. This pain has lead her to depression. Throughout this story Melinda has missed several opportunities to reach out for help. Teenage depression isn’t just bad moods and occasional sadness. Depression is a serious problem that impacts every single aspect of a teen’s life. If left untreated, teen depression can lead to problems at home, school, and in other aspects of ones life. Depression is often caused by past traumatic events. Although some teens aren’t able to really process what is going on, they remember and are haunted be the event every day. It is extremely important to be informed about adolescent depression, and what can be done to help.

Despite the rise in teen depression the study which analyzed data from the national surveys on drug use and health reported that there really isn’t mental health treatment for adolescents and young adults but there is a growing number of young people who go un-treated or under-treated and for those who did get help, treatment tended to be really intense often involving specialized care or prescribed medication. According to the department of health and human resources more than 3 million adolescents aged 12-17 reported at least one major depressive episode in the past year and more than two million reported to have severe depression that messed up their daily functioning or in other words it affected their schedules.

Teenagers experience strong feelings of stress, confusion, self-doubt, and pressure to succeed while growing up. These are fears that teens face every day and suicide may seem like the solution to their problems. There are many signs for parents to watch for in teenagers: changes in eating and sleeping habits, drug or alcohol abuse, violent actions, rebellious behavior, frequent complaints, and withdrawal from family and friends. Many of these signs and symptoms can be similar to depression. It is important for parents, teachers, and physicians to be aware of these symptoms in adolescents. (American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, October 2013).

Major depression is one of the common disorders in adolescents. Depression in adolescents is common due to their inability to process emotions in a health manor (Martin, 2016). Depression in adolescents is defined as mood swings, alternating period of depression, and mania also known as Bipolar Disorder. Depression is a main problem in adolescence and childhood stages of life. It isn’t usual for an adolescent to feel down or occasionally depressed. Being an adolescent is usually the toughest time with many physically, emotional, and social changes. Depression maybe hard to diagnose in some individuals because most adults just expect teens to act moody. Many adolescents also do not always understand their feeling, and don't quite know how to

Depression is a point in one’s lifetime when they are mentally unstable and the emotional state marked by sadness, discouragement, and loss that can occur during the teenage years. “Depression among teens generally start when a child hits puberty, but could possibly begin the day

Childhood and teen years are the most important years in development. No matter their home life, all children have gone through some type of depression. Depression is hard on teens because of the stress of school and the decisions about the rest of their life and career. There are different types of depression. Bi polarness, major depression, and unspecified depression. Talking to an adult, counselor, or teacher, although it may seem like they don't know what you're going through, may be the best option for help. Depression is a mood disorder that causes persistent and intense feeling of sadness, hopelessness, anger, and loss of interest lasting more than a couple of weeks. It is usually caused by anxiety or anger towards a negligent or absent parent(s).

Depression is a severe mood disorder and it is the most frequently diagnosed psychiatric disorder amongst adolescents. Depression is a state that adolescents can fall easily into. Teenagers spend more time with their friends than they do with their families which can result is possible rejection of peers. Individuals feel the need to have approval of self-worth by their peers. If they get disapproval, this can lead to brutal symptoms. (Platts, Kadosh, Lau 6). The symptoms can vary from self-worthlessness, anxiety, or a

Teen Depression is a very serious thing, people want to know what causes it, how to help people that have it, and how to detect it. In this research paper, we will learn the symptoms, and how to diagnose it. Most teens ages 10-19 are diagnosed with depression. Most ways to notice it is if the teen has lost interest in things they used to find fun or their moods seem to drop drastically. There is also usually a loss in appetite or gain in appetite, or weight gain or loss.

Depression is the most widespread mental illness in today’s society. Studies have found that, 1 out of 8 teens are affected with this disease. It also predominantly affects young ladies than it does males. (www.kidshealth.org). Teens are at a position in their lives when they must face significant transition and peer pressures. They are trying to identify with themselves and trying to figure out where there puzzle piece fits in society, all of which can show the way to behavioral and emotional changes. This is also a stage when families suffer from poor communication: teenagers often tend to keep their feelings and concerns to themselves away from their parents and other authority figures. Therefore, identifying depression in teenagers

Teen’s emotions are changing every day, and with this comes some major depression. This is because teens may feel like with their mood swings that their peers and people they look up to will not like them. Every teen will experience some sort of mood swing but how they deal with it is up to them. “When a teen starts getting depressed they should talk to either their friends, parents, or a consular to help them with their depression” (Smith). Teens show depression on social media and their peers take advantage of that and nobody even cares most of the time until the person takes their life.

Depression can be caused by thousands of things and it just so happens that depression is the number one leading cause of teen suicides (“Suicide”). Some of the things that cause depression can be divorce, death of a family member, new family formations, and stress. It’s said that “over half of all teens suffering from depression will attempt suicide at least once” (Scheff). It is completely normal for teenagers to feel sad and depressed sometimes but it gets to the point where they start to change their personality. This is when people should start to realize something is truly wrong (Scheff). Having low self-esteem is also something that causes depression. People start to have feeling such as “not being good enough” or that they are just “getting in people’s way” (Shaffer).

Depression a word we’re familiar with especially when it comes to adults, we know adults get depress and we understand the reasons, with the high demands in life it’s not uncommon to get lost in the shuffle. Depression in adult is something we have known for many years, but what has surprised many of us is that adolescents also get depressed. I myself still don’t fully understand the reasons why or how this happens. I see it very often adolescent coming in to the ER because they are depressed and want to hurt themselves, and each and every single time I’m shock. What could be so bad in their lives that would make them think they have no way out? This is the reason why I choice this topic, I want to learn more of how this disease affects so many children and teens and what we can do to stop it.

Today’s teenagers are faced with the ever changing world around them and the biological changes of their bodies. Many teens are also faced with depression. Approximately half of teenagers with untreated depression may attempt suicide, which remains the third leading cause of death in this age group. (Bostic). This depression affects their school, family lives, and robs them of their self image. Depression affects many teens and often goes by unnoticed and untreated.

To begin with, let us make clear what is depression. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, depression is described as a serious mental disorder in which a person suffers long time of sadness, loneliness, and other negative feelings. Depression affects how you feel about yourself such as lack of energy and concentration, lose interest in work and hobbies, and have trouble of insomnia. Depression makes life more and more difficult and dispirited. More importantly, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), major depression is the leading cause of mental disorder for people in the United States aged 15 to 44. Recent estimates show that about 10 to 15% of children and teens experience depression at

The signs and symptoms of youth depression include: Sadness, anxiety, lack of energy and motivation, easily irritated, withdrawal from family and friends, feelings of fear, feelings of extreme guilt or shame, inability to concentrate, poor memory, worsening grades, skipping school or classes, self-critical remarks, feelings that things will never get better, comments about death or dying, and threatening suicide even in joking manner. If a child is suffering from depression the parent/ guardian needs to watch their behavior. If the teen expresses emotions like they’re not happy when doing pleasurable things, emotionally drained, general sadness, hopelessness, hollowness, and uselessness. If they are complaining about physical changes similar to upset stomach, change in appetite or body weight, sleeplessness, headaches, and joint or back pain. If they are experiencing any behavioral issues such as easily irritated, uncooperative, disagreeable, avoiding