Teen Depression

921 Words2 Pages

Depression is the most widespread mental illness in today’s society. Studies have found that, 1 out of 8 teens are affected with this disease. It also predominantly affects young ladies than it does males. (www.kidshealth.org). Teens are at a position in their lives when they must face significant transition and peer pressures. They are trying to identify with themselves and trying to figure out where there puzzle piece fits in society, all of which can show the way to behavioral and emotional changes. This is also a stage when families suffer from poor communication: teenagers often tend to keep their feelings and concerns to themselves away from their parents and other authority figures. Therefore, identifying depression in teenagers can be difficult for adults to notice. However, it is very essential that adolescents with depression get assistance on handling their problems. For this reason, the focus of this paper will be about how parents can identify if their child are depressed. If adults are able to identify and have an understanding about depression so many lives could be saved.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a disorder of an individual that is undergoing repetitive patterns such as sadness, feeling of self worthlessness, thoughts or expression of suicide and self destruction. (www.teendepression.org). Depression can be spread through families if there is a history of depression. Detecting depression is not always easy to detect because in teens depression and normal teenage moodiness is hard to differentiate. Teens that suffers from depression can lead to failure in school, alcohol or and other drug use and even suicide. There are 15 to 20% of American teens that are involved in depression. (www.ezinearticles.com...

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...ticles.com/?Facts-¬About-¬Teen-¬Depression-¬You-¬Need-¬To--Know&id=789323

Feldman, R. (2008). Sexualty and Gender. Understanding Psychology (9 ed., p. 353). New York City: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages.

M.A, M. S., Barston, S., Ph.D, J. J., Dumke, M.A, L. F., & Ph.D, J. S. (n.d.). Teen Depression: Signs, Symptoms, and How to Help. Helpguide.org: Understand, Prevent and Resolve Life's Challenges. Retrieved May 17, 2010, from http://helpguide.org/mental/depression_teen.htm

Teen Suicide Statistics - Teen Suicide. (n.d.). Teen Suicide - Adolescent Suicide Statistics and Prevention. Retrieved May 17, 2010, from http://www.teensuicide.us/articles1.html

Depression Warning Signs - Teen Depression. (n.d.). Teen Depression - Adolescent Depression Statistics and Treatment. Retrieved May 17, 2010, from http://www.teendepression.org/articles.html

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