Teenage Years Are Depressing :: essays research papers

Teenage years are depressing because they are going through some of the biggest changes in their life. Teens start high school and have to deal with being little in a school again. They go through major hormonal changes. Their bodies develop and grow. They have to decide whether or not they are going to college or not. If they choose college, then what college will meet their needs the best? Will they even be accepted to the college they want to go to? These are major decisions and changes they have never experienced before. Then there is the daily life. They wake up in the morning dreading school, they know they have to go. They just don't want to go. Then they get ready and go to school. They are depressed about school. They go to all their classes. The end of the day is nearing and they may be depressed about having to go home. Their family life might be bad. They go home and what do you do? Sit down, watch television, play a video game, lock themselves in their room, or just going around being mad at everyone and their life. This really is the pits. They need to change their life whether it be changing their after school activity or changing their attitude. Depression is defined as a psychoneurotic or psychotic disorder marked especially by sadness, inactivity, difficulty in thinking and concentration, a significant increase or decrease in appetite and time spent sleeping, feelings of dejection and hopelessness, and sometimes suicidal tendencies. No two people feel or experience depression the same way. The symptoms and causes of depression are very different for everyone. Lawrence Clayton, Ph.D. and Sharon Carter write, "The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) [reported that] for 4 to 10 percent of the American public at any given time the ["downer"] mood doesn't lift." They also reported that one quarter of the population would experience a major depressive period during their lifetime (8). One out of four people will have a problem with depression in the United States. NIMH also reported that "approximately 4 out of a 100 teenagers get seriously depressed each year. Clinical Depression is a serious illness that can affect anybody, INCLUDING TEENAGERS" ("Let's Talk" 1). Gerald D. Oster, Ph.D., Sarah S. Montgomery, MSW, write, "Clinical depression refers to a condition marked by the changes in one's mood and by associated behaviors that range from a mild degree of sadness to intensely experienced feelings of hopelessness and suicidal thought's" (43).