How To Prevent Depression In Teens

By: Steven Ross

This article will deal with the very serious subject of depression in teens. The fact is that each year 4% of all teenagers suffer from a serious depression which will require help from a professional.

While feeling sad is a healthy feeling, prolonged sadness without recovery leads to depression. If your teen is depressed, you will most likely find they will have problems with school work, relationships with friends and family, and engage in potentially harmful actions like drug use and unprotected sex.

The fact is that depression in teens can be treated with the proper resources. Yet, most depression cases in the United States, dealing with teens, go untreated. This is terrible, because if depression goes untreated it will get worse, last longer, and be harder to reverse if treatment does take place.

Bipolar disorder and reactive depression are the two most common forms of depression in teens. Reactive disorder deals with prolonged states of sadness and feelings of unworthiness in teens. Bipolar disorder, once referred to as manic depression, is a depression where the teenager goes through extreme moods of mania and sadness, usually in a short period time.

When evaluating depression in teens, there are certain symptoms you should look for. If your teen cries, but doesn't fill the usual relief associate with crying , and is continually said, this is a critical sign.

Also, if they often express feelings of guilt, for no adequate reason, and their self-esteem is low, that is another sign. Other indicators are frequent indecision, a negative outlook on life, irregular sleep patterns, and high irritability, to name a few.

Communication with a professional or someone they trust, should be the first step the teen needs to make if there are feeling depressed. The options that are available for teens, as far as who they can go to, include their parents, a trusted member of their church, school counselor, a family doctor, and even a professional therapist.

Psychotherapy and/or medication are two methods that are most commonly used in treating depression in teens. Depression in teens is alleviated with psychotherapy by talking about how the teen feels with a trained therapist, while trying to locate the root cause of the depression. Depression can be easily corrected in most cases, because the teen is unaware of their faulty view of understanding reality, which is causing the depression.

When it is needed, as in more severe cases of depression in teens, medication will be considered an option. Medication might in fact be the first step, before progress can be made.

In conclusion, I have given you some facts to consider, relating to depression in teens. Use this information to determine the best course of action for you or your teen today, to make sure there is no unnecessary suffering being caused by depression in your life.

Article Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com

About the Author:
About the author: Steven Ross is a huge Positive Mental Health enthusiast and can help you with all your depression questions. For Positive Mental Health advice visit his new site at DepressionandAnxietyReport.com This article is available as a unique content article with free reprint rights.

Share