Teenage depression essays

Teenage depression essays Teenage depression is a growing problem in todays society and is often a major contributing factor for most adolescent problems. The statistics about teenage runaways, alcoholism, drug problems, pregnancy, eating disorders, and suicide are alarming. The common link to all of these crises is often depression. The path into adolescence is a difficult one, and the choices a teen makes can leave lasting scars on the lives of an entire generation of young men and women. There is a growing realization that teenage depression can be life changing, even life- threatening. Depression can be described in many ways. Its main description is that it is a serious mental disorder in which a person suffers long periods of sadness, loneliness, and other negative feelings. Teenagers have always been vulnerable to depression for a variety of reasons. Its a confusing time of life because a teens body is changing along with their relationships. Teenagers constantly teeter-totter between striving for independence from family and still trying to be a child and depend on it. But todays teens face an additional challenge: Theyre growing up in a world quite different from that of their parents youth. Adolescents today are faced with stresses that were unknown to previous generations and are dealing with them in an often self destructive way. I am writing an abstract for the article Assessment and Treatment of Adolescent Depression and Suicidality taken from the Journal of Mental Health Counseling. It states that from 1980-1997, the rate of suicide among 15-19 year old adolescents increased by 11% and among those aged 10-14 by 109% The thought of suicide is most commonly brought on by depression. Some types of significant loss can be a factor in triggering teenage depression. Loss can be due to death, divorce, separation, or loss of a family member, important friend or romanti ...