Home Add to Favorite Contact Submit  
             28 March, 2024
 

    
Category:  Articles » Health & Fitness » Depression

 

Teenage Depression – Is Your Teen Depressed? Signs and Symptoms

Popularity:
         Views: 1744
2006-12-24 02:33:41     
Article by Sacha Tarkovsky

Depression in teenager is often difficult to determine as teenagers with depression don’t display the same symptoms as adults with depression.

Depression in teenagers is as high as depression in adults and it can lead to self harm and even suicide so make sure you know the signs of teenage depression before its to late.

Depression in Teenagers – How do I Know of my Teen is Depressed?

Teenagers with depression do not exhibit the same behavior as adults with depression and the difficulty for many parents is that much of the behavior that is diagnostically attributed to teenage depression, are the behaviors that most of experience with out teens at some stage.

A clinical diagnosis of depression may describe the following behaviors:-

• Feelings of not be understood by parents or teachers

• Increasing antisocial behavior

• Wanting to leave home

• Becoming negative and feeling ‘picked on’ or disapproved of

• Aggression

• Withdrawal from family and other social activities

• Spends more time in own company

• Lack of attention to personal grooming

If your teenager is depressed they may exhibit some or all of these symptoms.

In general, teenage girls with depression may become preoccupied with this of a morbid nature, while teenage boys will act up, becoming aggressive at school or at home, and perhaps getting into trouble with the police.

Depression in Teenagers – Getting Help

Teenage boys will often become aggressive, agitated, and get into trouble at home, at school, or with the law. Teenage girls will sometimes become preoccupied with themes of death or dying, and become decreasing concerned about how they look. Suicidal thoughts are common.

Some studies suggest that 500,000 teens attempt suicide each year, and 5000 are successful.

Increased use of alcohol or other drugs is common, along with other forms of "self-destructive behaviors." Poor self-esteem is common with teenagers, but especially with those who are depressed.

Parents are often confused and frustrated when their teens begin to act like this.

Sometimes parents become stern disciplinarians, or even put the teen down, which only serves to increase feelings of guilt and depression.

Other times, parents feel helpless, and stand by waiting for adulthood to arrive. Of course neither course is the right one to take.

If you know of a teen whose behaviors have changed to look like what has been described above, let the parents know that there is help available, and encourage the family to seek help from a professional.

With proper diagnosis and treatment a depressed teen, or adult, can be greatly helped.

If someone close to you is suffering from depression, first please understand that depression is a very emotionally painful condition. For some people with depression it turns into a "terminal illness" due to suicide. Please take the situation seriously.

1) Get a medical evaluation. Symptoms of depression can be the result of a wide assortment of illnesses, including thyroid problems, viral infections, and other factors.

2) Deprex is an amino acid and homeopathic medicine for the treatment of depression that we have seen work well with our patients. It may be worth trying as long as the situation is "stable" and there is no suicidal thinking on the part of the depressed person.

3) Medications such as Prozac can be very helpful for more difficult cases. Consult your doctor. These medications are often prescribed by Family Practice Doctors, but in most cases ought to be monitored by Psychiatrists.

4) Increase intake of Protein somewhat. Use a protein powder supplement, just like a weight lifter.

5) Exercise daily. Just get out and walk for about 15 minutes.

6) Seek out counseling from someone who is good at treating depression. This can do a world of good for you. However, always use great wisdom and common sense when choosing a therapist. Some are good, and some are not, so choose wisely.

Teenage depression is something that is hard to see. You look at them and their moodiness that comes just from being teenagers and try to figure out what moodiness is normal and what moodiness is not normal. This can be very hard to tell at times because teenagers are just moody by nature.

Yet, as parents, you have a sense when it is different and you need to take it seriously. Many teenagers die from untreated depression and, more often than not, you hear people saying, "they never saw it coming".

This is not something that needs to happen. If you feel something is wrong, have them checked out and make sure that it is nothing before you assume that it is nothing to worry about.

There are some signs that you can look for that will help you figure out if it is something to worry about or not. The first thing that you should be thinking about is how long has the moodiness been going on. Sure, they may be moody a lot of the time but you may have noticed that it has changed.

Normal moodiness lasts for a day here and a day there, but the moodiness we are talking about is the kind that goes on for days and stops them from functioning as they would normally.

Look for changes in their behavior, such as how they are around their friends and family members.

Have they stopped doing anything that they used to enjoy doing?

Are they giving away things that have meaning to them? Has the amount of sleep or food they eat suddenly changed?

Have they lost weight or gained weight lately and we are not talking about a 5-pound gain or loss.

Are their grades slipping in a class they have always done well in?

Are they not hanging out with their friends like they used to?

Have they dropped out of any clubs that they were active in?

Have they gotten into an argument or broken up with a significant other recently?

Are there any problems going on at home, like a pending divorce or the death of a family member?

Knowing what is going on in the life of your teenager is hard enough but if you suspect that they may be suffering from depression, it is critical to know what is going on.

The knowledge you gain can help figure out if depression is going on and it may also help to identify what has caused it. There may have been an event that has triggered it and it will be very helpful to know this.

Take teenager depression seriously and remember its easy to put right if you can spot the situation in advance.

Specialized in: Information - Features - News - Business Opportunities - Dating - Music - Tv - Video
URL: http://www.net-planet.org
Print article      Bookmark this page
Related Articles 
Herbs For High Blood Pressure - Do They Really Work? (Popularity: ): Most high blood pressure sufferers can't stand the unpleasant side effects of their prescription medications. That's why so many of them are trying natural herbal cures. It's said these cures can reduce blood pressure effectively, safely, and without side effects. But do herbs for high blood pressure really work?Hawthorne Berry: This herb is hugely popular in Europe as a heart tonic. It has a reputation for strengthening the heart's pumping ...
Seasonal Affective Disorder Treatments (Popularity: ): When searching for and using SAD disorder treatments you should take into account what side affects you may encounter. You maybe should way up the odds regarding the way Sad /seasonal affective disorder affects your life and how your are managing to cope with it, and whether or not you could cope without any disorder treatment or not.Most SAD sufferers are fine through the summer months,but as the nights draw ...
Affordable Non-Drug solution to Depression (Popularity: ): Up until recently, there were four choices for persons with Depression. These were:1. Do nothing, suffer and hope it'll get better with time. This is the sad choice of many, and it doesn't work. They most often get worse.2. Put them on one of the huge advertised array of drugs, and then put them on other drugs hoping to solve the side effects as they show up. This is known ...
There is an Anxiety Attack Cure for You! (Popularity: ): Finding the right anxiety attack cure that will work for you is not simply a matter of picking up something from the store or on the Web. You cannot forget however that you are very different and there is no "one size fits all" type of treatment.Mental illnesses are not something any of us desire. There are however many curative options that can help you overcome the challenges of dealing ...
6 Reasons For Consulting With Your Doctor Before Taking St. John's Wort (Popularity: ): I was first diagnosed as having clinical depression ten years ago by a marriage counselor who recognized that I had reached a psychological state in which I felt that "things were getting steadily worse" and that I no longer enjoyed activities that I used to like to do. I was also having fits of temper which seemingly came out of nowhere and had problems with sleeping and memory loss.The counselor ...


Related Business 
The Depressed Child (Popularity: ): For adults who want to help depressed children. Administered by the parent of a child who died of undiagnosed depression. Chat room, list of symptoms and treatments, legislative/political developments, and resources.
New Treatment For Depression (Popularity: ): Recommended resource website for information on new treatment for depression, manic depression symptoms and signs of clinical depression as well as a discussion of the different types and medications for depression.
Postpartum Depression (Popularity: ): Resource for learning how to handle postpartum depression. Includes info for depression screening, signs of post partum depression and more. This mood disorder has a name, it has symptoms, and it is more common than you might think. You are not alone, you are not going crazy, and yes - there is help!
Anxiety and Depression Symptoms (Popularity: ): Learn the symptoms of anxiety and depression. Find out all about symptoms of anxiety and depression. This site is designed to educate you about anxiety, depression and other disorders, and to answer all your questions you might have about these disorders. After you assemble all the information you need, you will have much better idea what should be your next step.
Depression symptoms (Popularity: ): Depression symptoms information and treatment of depression. Check edepression.org for more details
Self Help Depression (Popularity: ): Helping yourself with Depression. An online resource for depression information. Resource for depression information and recognizing depression symptoms. Medical researchers around the world who has studied depression believe that depression can be genetic and can sometimes skip generations.
Depression can prove dangerous sometimes! (Popularity: ): Know about depression symptoms, its treatment and the medication of depression over here. Depression can happen due to many reasons which is described in detail when you go through this.
About Teen Depression (Popularity: ): Information on teen depression diagnosis, treatment and statistics.
Depression and Anxiety Information Page (Popularity: ): Information about anxiety and depression including signs, symptoms, treatment, solutions, product reviews, overviews of major prescription drugs, side effects, warnings and alternatives.
Depression Help and Prevention (Popularity: ): Depression help, information on symptoms and cure of different types of depression, recommended books, self help courses, and articles.