Teenage Epidemic: Clinical Depression

by: Alexis Oakman

In the United States today, an estimated ten percent of the teenage population suffers from what experts are calling a new epidemic: depression.

In a recent study done by the National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH), statistics show that at any one time, ten to fifteen percent of teens suffer from de­pression, while five percent suffer from major depression. They also found that as many as twenty per­cent will experience some type of depression before they reach adulthood.

Sophomore Danielle Padilla, said, “Depression is where you get so sad or upset with yourself that you just stop caring about other things; you lose interest for things you once enjoyed or peo­ple you used to go out and have fun with.”

Depression goes beyond feel­ings of sadness. Freshman Nicole Rady said, “I have a friend who has depression, but instead of get­ting all sad and lonesome he just gets angry a lot more than neces­sary and excludes himself from the world all the time.”

“It’s a very serious issue; can come from problems at home, drama, bullying,” said WCHS counselor Flora Collett.

The NIMH states that depres­sion can come in many forms: from feeling sadness, hopeless­ness, worthlessness, or pessi­mism, to developing bad eating and sleeping habits.

Teen depression affects more than grades and classes, though. For some, substance abuse, risky sexual behaviors, and, in worse cases, suicidal tendencies begin to manifest. Suicide is the third leading cause of death among teenagers.

Ninety percent of teenagers who have committed suicide suf­fered from a mental illness, and untreated depression is one of those illnesses. Having depres­sion as a teenager makes a person twelve times more likely to at­tempt suicide.

Depression can ruin friend­ships and relationships, and push people who care away.

This disease can affect every facet of life, and that is consid­ered one of the scariest aspects of depression.

Junior Eryn Messenger said, “Last year one of my good friends who went here passed away af­ter an attempted suicide. Losing someone to this kind of tragedy is a hard thing for teens to grasp. I can’t even imagine the pain this girl’s family feels.” The Dysart community has coped with nu­merous tragedies among its stu­dent this year.

While all of this might seem shocking and untreatable, there is hope. Depression can be helped with medicine, therapy and exer­cise. Family and friends lending their support can be of help as well.

If anyone believes themselves, a friend or a family member to be suffering from depression, they can look for signs of agitation, restlessness, irritability, a dra­matic change in appetite often ac­companied by weight gain or loss, extreme difficulty concentrating, fatigue, lack of energy, feelings of hopelessness or helplessness or worthlessness, self-hate, inappro­priate guilt, inactivity and with­drawal from usual activities, loss of interest or pleasure in activities that were once enjoyed, thoughts of death or suicide, trouble sleep­ing and excessive sleeping.

If anything out-of-the-or­dinary is noticed, experts urge teens to speak with an adult who is trustworthy and can be of help such as the school counselor or a friend whose parent might be of assistance.

Counselors urge students to seek help if they are suffer­ing from depression or suicidal thoughts. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255.