Depression is something almost everyone
experiences from time to time during their life. Sometimes it’s just a
short-lived gloomy feeling about something that has gone wrong, like
having an argument with a friend or flunking a test at school.
Sometimes it lasts longer, like if you’ve lost a close friend or there
has been a death in the family (bereavement). Sometimes the sad feeling
lasts a longer time during a period of grieving, but that can still be
normal. Some people are just sadder or gloomier than others all of
their lives, but yet they are really normal people; they just have a sad
temperament or personality. Unfortunately, too many adolescents don’t
realize that sad feelings and unhappy times do pass. As a result,
sometimes teenagers will do foolish things, like hurting themselves by
taking drugs or even attempting suicide. This is unfortunate because as
we grow older we do learn that bad feelings and situations don’t last
long and almost always go away, or at least improve.
When feelings of sadness and depression
become really bad, constant and last a long time (more than two weeks),
then we may consider the person to have a CLINICAL DEPRESSION. This
would be a depression or depressed feelings that are not within what is
considered to be normal. It is probably called “clinical” depression
because it is something that a physician or psychologist would diagnose.
The feeling of sadness is often associated with other symptoms,
including one or more of the following: a loss of interest in things
that used to bring a person pleasure or make them happy; sleep
disturbance (either sleeping all the time or not being able to sleep);
feeling tired all the time (fatigue and no energy); feeling guilty or
worthless; not being able to concentrate at school or on homework;
always thinking about death or hurting oneself (suicide). Clinical
depression is a very serious problem and if someone is experiencing the
above symptoms, they definitely should see a physician or psychologist.
Depression is very treatable with talk (cognitive) therapy and if
needed with medication.
There are many kinds of depression. Some children and adolescents are just mildly depressed all the time (called dysthymia). Some are more severely depressed with intermittent periods of being very excitable (now called bipolar disease
or what used to be called “manic-depressive” disorder). During these
periods of excitement, some teenagers do some really crazy things like
driving very recklessly or taking tremendous chances without regard for
their safety or welfare (including excessive risks with alcohol, drugs,
sex or money.) Some people get depressed at certain times like around
the holidays, especially if there has been a divorce or death in the
family about that time. Another form of serious depression is called “melancholia.”
Besides all the things that happen with a “Major Depressive Episode”
as described above, when someone has this form of depression they enjoy
almost nothing, they often lose a lot of weight and they often wake up
really early in the morning (like 4 or 5 o’clock) and can’t get back to
sleep.
All forms of clinical depression should be
taken seriously. Just feelings of being depressed should be taken
seriously in adolescents, because sometimes teenagers overreact to even
normal feelings of being “bummed out” and can endanger themselves.
Professional help is the wisest answer.
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