Depression in Teens

Depression in Teens

It is not uncommon for teenagers to feel unhappy occasionally but when the unhappiness continues for over 2 weeks, and the teen also shows some of the other symptoms of depression mentioned above, then we can say he or she is suffering from teen or adolescent depression.

According to a research study, an estimate of 1 of every 33 children and 1 of every 8 adolescents are affected by teen depression. Find out if your teen suffers from this type of depression and follow the recommended treatment discussed on this blog or seek help from a depression expert.

If you have an unhappy or irritable teenager, have you ever wondered why he or she is like that? He or she might really be having teen depression! At times, most of our teens feel unhappy of course. But when the effect of hormone havoc is added to the several other changes taking place in their lives, we can easily understand why teens’ moods swing very often. Yet researches have shown that 1 out of every 8 teenagers has adolescent depression. Fortunately, depression and its associated tons of problems can be treated. Therefore if you notice your teenager’s unhappiness is lasting over 2 weeks and he or she also shows other depression symptoms mentioned earlier, please follow the recommended treatment discussed on this blog or seek help from a depression expert.

Why do teenagers get adolescent depression?

There are various reasons why your teenager might have adolescent depression. For example, he or she can develop feelings of inadequacy or worthlessness over his or her grades. Performance in school, social status with their peers, their sexual orientation, or even family life can have a serious effect on the feelings of a teenager. Sometimes, environmental stress can be the cause of adolescent depression. Well, whatever might be the cause, when family, friends or something that a teenager often enjoys is unable to make any improvement in his or her unhappiness or isolation, we can conclude that the teen has adolescent depression.

Adolescent Depression symptoms, warning signs and effects.

Very often, you will notice a change in the behavior or thinking of children having adolescent depression. They may be unmotivated and often become withdrawn, lock themselves up in their bedrooms after school and stay there for several hours.

Kids having adolescent depression enjoy excessive sleep, have eating habit changes, and may even show criminal behaviors like shoplifting or DUI (driving under the influence of alcohol). I list below some more symptoms, warning signs and effects of adolescent depression. Please note that teens may not show all the listed:

• Loss of memory.

• Lack of enthusiasm or emotion.

• Feelings of pains, such as stomach aches, headaches, fatigue or lower back pain.

• Difficulty in concentrating.

• Difficulty in decision making.

• Inappropriate or excessive guilt.

• Irresponsibility, bad behaviors, forgetting of obligations, getting late for classes, skipping of school.
• Very little or no interest in food leading to weight loss.

• Compulsive overeating leading to rapid weight gain.

• Preoccupation with ideas of death or dying.

• Act of Rebellion.

• Anxiety, sadness, or a hopelessness feeling.

• Staying up late into the night or sleeping during the day.

• Sharp drop in school grades.

• Use of drug or alcohol.

• Promiscuous sexual activity.

• Withdrawing from peers or friends.