It's estimated that 15 to 20% of teenagers will suffer with some form of depression, the greater portion of them, by a small margin, being young women. Which ever way you look at it, that's a very large number indeed.This depression can come and go, and may be a response to many situations and stresses. In adolescents, depressed mood is common because of the normal process of growing up, the stress associated with it, the influence of sex hormones, and independence conflicts with parents or guardians. It can be a very complex and confusing time for these young adults.
Of course, true teen depression is often difficult to diagnose, because normal adolescent behavior is marked by both up and down moods, with alternating periods of feeling ‘the world is a great place’ and ‘life is crap!'. The teen years are quite often the most turbulent times in our lives. These moods may alternate over a period of hours or days, and are indeed testing times for those closest, such as siblings or parents. These periods of anger, sadness, dark thoughts may be precipitated by many different situations or events. Some examples can be stressful life events, particularly the loss of a parent to death or divorce; child abuse; unstable care giving, poor social skills; chronic illness; and possibly a genetic predisposition to depression. It may also be a reaction to a disturbing event, such as the death of a friend or relative, a breakup with a boyfriend or girlfriend, or failure at school. Adolescents who have low self-esteem can be highly self-critical, and may feel little sense of control over negative events. This group in particular are at risk of becoming depressed when they experience stressful life events.
Outbursts of anger, excessive sleeping, change in eating habits, even criminal behavior (like shoplifting) may be signs of depression. Another common symptom of adolescent depression is an obsession with death, which may take the form either of suicidal thoughts or of fears about death and dying. Self harm (cutting or other forms of self mutilation) is thought by some, to be a behaviour which may exhibit itself when a teenager isn't coping as well as they would wish.
What to do? That's a really good question indeed. It's my belief that teens with these symptoms are rarely, if ever, simply 'trying to seek attention'. Therefore, the situation is real, there are issues, and these issues should be approached with the intent of formulating some way of lessening these periods of 'down'.
Usually, but not always, these periods in a young persons life can be helped by thoughtful parental guidance. However, this is not always the case, and this being so, some form of external help and guidance may be required. Quite often, a chat with a caring third party can can help a great deal, so long as the teenager is willing to participate.
The bottom line? Whatever form this depression may take, or in whatever way it may manifest itself, it should never be ignored. Depression at any age is mother natures alarm bell.
If you're a teen reading this, and have such problems, or, if you're the carer of a teen with such issues, seek out help and guidance. The process of "talking it out" is quite often all that's required to 'put the boat back on course'.
