Depression and how it affects children and teens

Depression and how it affects kids and teens in our everyday life

Teen suicide and depression is the third leading cause of death in youth 10-24 years of age in the United States(. Most children and teens that are struggling with depression are to scared to be judged or to speak up about what they are feeling. Depression is the primary reason why someone dies of suicide about every 13 minutes. – over 41,000 people a year (Roxanne Dryden-Edwards ). When researching this topic it came to my attention that children suffer a lot with depression.  How can we, as a community lower these numbers drastically?

The reason why most kids and teens dont speak up about their problems is that they feel as if it were not of any importance. During my research I came across a website that had a lot of interesting facts and messages about depression.This is very important because when they are struggling with depression and feel as if they have no one to speak to they can always look up websites and physicians to help them. For example in reading, the message that stood out to me is- “Depression can be caused by big transitions in life, stress, or changes in your body’s chemicals that affect your thoughts and moods. Depression can run in families. Maybe you haven’t realized that you have depression and have been blaming yourself for being negative. Remember that depression is not your fault!”(NIMH). This explains that depression is and needs to be taken very seriously. No matter how much a person experiencing depression wishes to keep it to themselves they should always seek medical advice when they feel out of their element and like they’re not themselves anymore. About 43.2 % of children and teens that suffer from depression are to scared to talk about their depression because they feel that they are to blame(ADAA). They feel as if having depression was their fault and that they shouldn’t involve their parents or physician into it because they are causing them more work. For example, the stigma of having depression is different from that of other mental illnesses and is largely due to the negative nature of the illness that makes depressives seem unattractive and unreliable. Self stigmatisation makes patients shameful and secretive and can prevent proper treatment. As stated by one of the interviewees,”  I felt that I couldn’t speak to my mother or father about my depression. I felt this way because of the stigma and stereotypes of being  a male and a tennager. That we all go or went through “phases” when in reality depression is not phase, suicidal thoughts and or actions is not a phase. Meanwhile it was causing me to push further away from them because I was scared to tell the how I felt, like they were going to say that it was my fault” (Sanchez).  When interviewing this teenager  I realized that children and teens are experiencing these feelings of guilt and remorse and are to scared to open up to someone that they trust feeling that they are going to get blamed even more than they are already blame themselves. Sanchez chose to use the word phase because when most teens speak to a parent about their feelings of depression it’s usually always just a phase and that is not the parents fault. It’s the way that the stigma has built up after generations and generations of ignoring mental illnesses and how they are just seen as a phase and like they are not meant to be taken seriously.

Children and teens are not speaking up because they are sure that they will just get over it. In an article “Depression,Anxiety and Stress” they were speaking about how they lose hope in their own future and they see it something of no importance. When in reality they are choosing to ignore the feelings that they have towards their own depression because it’s a lot scarier to face a fear that is unknown when you feel like you are facing it alone. The article stood out to me for this particular message-”depression can reduce a person’s enjoyment of life, withdraw them from their family and friends and make them feel very alone(DAST)”. This is showing how a person with depression may feel about their own depression and how it can hold them back from their daily activities or isolate them from who was making the happy. Children and teens that have depression can tend to do this because of the fear that depression brings with them. They lose all hope in themselves and that can be a very dangerous territory to cross into. Furthermore when completing my interview .   These statistics that children are most likely to forget about what they were feeling the day before and move on into a happier day than yesterday.for example in the article “depression in children” they state,” It’s normal for children to feel down, be cranky or think negatively – this is just part of growing up. Children have to go through a range of feelings to learn how to deal with them(AGDSS)”. Children are more likely to have longer lasting bad days” than adults but know that, they will have to learn to deal with tem and go on with their lives. The thing with this is that yes children will learn how to deal with their problems but at an unnecessary young age and that can cause them to revive those feeling further down in their life.

Cerna , Yesenia. “Interview.” 28 Dec. 2017. I interviewed Yesenia Cerna, Jasmin Sodhi and Josias Sanchez. I interviewed them because they all had a connection to depression which makes them trustworthy. The Topic I chose to interview them about was depression.The reason behind this is that the all have a very personal connection to depression and how it affected their lives.

Schrobsdorff, Susanna. “Teen Depression and Anxiety: Why the Kids Are Not Alright.” Time, Time, 27 Oct. 2016, time.com/magazine/us/4547305/november-7th-2016-vol-188-no-19-u-s/.

This was an article about depression and how it affects today’s kids and teens. The negatives ways of approaching it and how you can help.

“Anxiety and Depression in Children.” Anxiety and Depression Association of America, ADAA, adaa.org/living-with-anxiety/children/anxiety-and-depression.

This was about children that have depression and how you can help prevent it. As well as how to help a child in need when struggling with depression.

“Negative Effects of Depression.” The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Test – Measure Your Emotions, Reactions and Moods, www.depression-anxiety-stress-test.org/depression/negative-effects-of-depression.html. This was talking about the negative effects of depression. It also had a quiz that people can take if they were not sure how they felt. It had list of therapist and doctors that can help and encouraging messages on their website that made me smile.

“Anxiety and Depression in Children.” Anxiety and Depression Association of America, ADAA, adaa.org/living-with-anxiety/children/anxiety-and-depression. This was about children that have depression and how you can help prevent it. As well as how to help a child in need when struggling with depression.

“Negative Effects of Depression.” The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Test – Measure Your Emotions, Reactions and Moods, www.depression-anxiety-stress-test.org/depression/negative-effects-of-depression.html.

This was talking about the negative effects of depression. It also had a quiz that people can take if they were not sure how they felt. It had list of therapist and doctors that can help and encouraging messages on their website that made me smile.

“Facts & Statistics.” Anxiety and Depression Association of America, ADAA, adaa.org/about-adaa/press-room/facts-statistics#. This is about teens and children who have struggled with depression. As well as the percentage and how we as a community can do to help.

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