Gone are the days when depression is thought to be something that will go away over time. It is normal for people to feel sad from time to time but when does sadness become depression? Different people can undergo depression. It does not matter what age they are or what their current status is, people can feel depressed. It is also people who will decide if they would like to wallow in depression or not.
Depression among teens is becoming more common. Sometimes, teens are exposed to highly unrealistic expectations. They are sometimes anticipated to reach the highest academic standards possible. At the same time, they are also awaited to do sports, to do co curricular activities and to do a wide variety of things that they may not be required to do. The pressure may come from parents, from teachers and even from peers. While some teens may take things in stride, there are also some teens who become depressed in the process.
Teenagers are usually not well adjusted yet because they are at the stage wherein they are learning more things about themselves. This is the stage wherein they are starting to understand the changes in their bodies and they are trying to grasp these things so that they can absorb everything that they need to know. At times, there are some teens that learn more about life from television and the Internet because they are not properly guided by their parents.
Being a teenager is a crucial stage. This is the time when parents should take time to understand their children. This is the time when parents should be there for their children because if they would not be there, who can teenagers rely on whenever there are some things that they do not understand at all?
Signs of Depression
There are different things that teenagers may exhibit while they are feeling depressed. There are some who show signs of agitation with the simplest things. For instance, they can cry uncontrollably because they feel hopeless, they are unable to sleep at night; they tend to exhibit signs of forgetting certain memories at such a young age. A lot of teenagers may lose or gain weight because of depression too. Some lose weight because they find themselves unable to eat while some gain weight because they release their depression through eating different types of food. It is also evident that teenagers are suffering from stress when they shut out themselves from the rest of the world.
Teenagers and Their Choices
For teenagers who are already in depression because of the things that they feel that they failed doing, it will be best if they could try to seek out new friends. Having friends are healthy growing up provided that those friends will be able to become good influences on the life of a teenager. Teenagers may confide more with their friends than with family members so having trusted friends can help lessen feelings of depression that teenagers may be feeling.
For teenagers who feel that they can always channel their sadness elsewhere, taking up a hobby can be very beneficial. Just imagine having to do sports instead of feeling depressed. This can truly be helpful. Another way of dealing with depression is by talking to another adult. If family members are unavailable, teenagers can always talk to guidance counselors as well as other people that they trust that can give them the guidance that they need. With proper help, teenagers can stop feeling and being depressed and can live their lives the way that they should and with a more optimistic point of view.