What is Depression?
Depression is categorized as a mood disorder. In some cases, it can cause teenagers to have suicidal thoughts. What’s even sadder is that it is the third leading cause, in terms of deaths, amongst teenagers as well. And to make things even worse, there is a lot of stigmas surrounding the idea that young kids simply do not experience these types of emotions or feelings (which is far from the truth). According to psychcentral.com, the average onset of depression is 14 years old and 80 percent of teens do not receive help regarding this issue either. This is mainly due to the various ways in which depressive symptoms tend to show up.
If depressive symptoms last for at least two weeks or more, then the signs you are seeing could be parallel to something that is not just regular teenage moodiness. Loss of energy, changes in appetite, fluctuating weight, frequent complaints about headaches or any physical pain, or a sudden change in grades are a few things to pay attention to when things do not feel right inside of you. According to heysigmund.com, mood and pain share the same pathways in the brain and they are regulated by the same brain chemicals (serotonin and norepinephrine). It can also make people oversleep, hypersomnia, and often times it causes them to have trouble falling back asleep. It is important to find healthy outlets to channel the transitions that you may be experiencing in life or the complex emotions that you may feel as you are growing up. Grounding yourself is important especially since depression is a worldwide issue and is even more common in families since it is a biological condition.
Medication can be used to treat this mental disorder and often times, cognitive therapy can aid in making healthy choices and decisions. Exercise coupled with sunshine can help you recharge your energy and ground you. Practice healthy communication and always remind yourself that this something that you are not alone on and that everyone, at some point in time, experiences thoughts and emotions that causes them to be sad. Psychotherapy is a good practice of mindfulness to take up since it could have more long lasting positive effects rather than medication that could cause some negative side effects. Focus on creating positive affirmations and thoughts on yourself because sometimes depression makes us feel less than what we are. If you have any friends that are experiencing these types of feelings or you are concerned about, make yourself available and know that you cannot change them and that this is something that they also have to work on inside of themselves. Again, depression is often a complex and misunderstood mental illness so it operates from numerous planes.
Embrace that being young brings about a lot of changes both physically and mentally. This is a time of pure growth. Explore all of your emotions and do not let anyone hold you back from that. Work on healing and strengthening these quarks and remember that if something does not feel right inside of you, reach out to people that care about you. You do not have to suffer in silence.
