I Survived Depression

Recently I have written on teenage depression. My last post was on the signs of teenage depression and before that I wrote about how the anti depressant Lexapro was found safe for use by teens. I find teenage depression to be the most tragic forms of depression being that it usually will affect a person’s entire life as opposed to depression that comes on later in life after the individual is established. I was in the process researching a new post when I came across this article in Psych Central.

What I found so interesting about it was that it says that the longer someone stays home after graduation the more their chances of getting depressed. Now as someone who has seen this first hand, I can say from experience that getting through school is almost impossible when suffering from depression and moving out and surviving was even more difficult.

May 13, 2008 - Edmonton- The post-university years can start out tough. The good news: it gets better. (more…)

Depression affects every aspect of a person’s life and nothing could be truer when it comes to teenagers. Originally research showed that up to 8 percents of teens are affected by depression, but just yesterday the government came out and reported that more than 2 million U.S. teenagers have suffered a serious bout of depression in the past year, including nearly 13 percent of girls.

Of course lower numbers are always better, but in one way this is good. Now that these numbers have been released maybe more emphasis will be placed on teenage depression. The teenage years are so important because it is then that a person’s life begins to take shape. And until now most teenage depression went untreated and most never even diagnosed.

Reasons for Teen Depression

There are many reasons that can lead to teen depression including stress from school or athletics, peer pressure, the influence of sex hormones, a disturbing event, conflicts with parents and even just the normal maturation process. Although the teenage years can be the best in a person’s life, the teenage years can bring on new situations such as the death of a friend or relative, a breakup with a boyfriend or girlfriend, or failure at school.

Adolescents with low self-esteem, that are highly self-critical, and who feel little sense of control over negative events are particularly at risk to become depressed when they experience stressful events.

So how do you tell if your teen is depressed? (more…)