Teenage Depression
| Author | Message |
|---|---|
| Cigarettes And Suicide Bleeding on the Floor  Age: 37 Gender: Female Posts: 1725 | If you're put on incorrect medication, it's possible to develop a dependency on the pills, as they're not doing what they're meant for and therefore it's akin to taking Valium or Vicodin when you don't have anything wrong with you at all. In addition to that, depression has different effects on different people. Some people (and this is quite common with teenage depression and post-natal depression as these are periods where the hormones get way out of whack) take medication for a year or two and the imbalance corrects itself with the aid of the medication, meaning you can wean yourself off it and continue on to live a 'normal' life, drug-free. Other people (typically adults who have no real trigger for their depression, it just sets in for some unknown reason) go on medication and have to take it every day for the rest of their lives, because their imbalance just never fixes itself. Basically, in the cases of depression in teens, or post-natal or drug-induced depression (eg from smoking pot or alcoholism), the imbalance is relatively temporary, but cannot right itself without the aid of medication to help take the pressure off while the brain and its chemicals sort themselves out. I've heard it explained as a system like: you take meds for a year, wean yourself off. If you're still not right, you take them for another two years, then try again. If you're not 'fixed' by then, you take them for another three years, and same again. Basically, you repeat the process every two or three years, and if, after ten years on depression medication, you're still not quite right, you're pretty much guaranteed to have a permanent imbalance that will need drugs to balance it forever. But yeah, depression medication isn't addictive per se. As in, there is no physical dependency created by them - it's a psychological problem that exists solely in the sufferer's head. It's not like heroin or something that is physically addictive, it is just that the person believes they can't function without their daily medication, and continues taking it, or taking too much of it, to try and soothe their anxiety. |
| AmandaAdenine Thinking Happy Thoughts  Age: 31 Gender: Female Posts: 454 | 1. Do you think there's really teenage depression, or are they just moody/hormonal/overreacting? I think that there is a fine line between hormanl, moody, and overreacting, If I was overreacting, and my brain was just as normal as a regular teen, I would just rebel, I would not kill myself, or do anything that a real depressed person might do. 2. If a teen is depressed, is family support needed or can the teen get better by themselves/with the help of one close family member or friend(s)? I dont think that family members are bad help, but I am not saying they are the best choice for help. I think that family help is needed to give that teen a extra push to go to therapy, because more likely they are not going to want to go. 3. Can depression be treated without the help of a psychotherapist/medicine? I think that Therapy is needed to truly help a person, but that is if you want to get help. I dont think medicine is cool though, My mom said she took Anti-depressants as a kid after her Uncle or some one died and all she did after that was sleep alot but of course if you are asleep your not awake so you cant be depressed. 4. How? I dont think it can be helped with out therapy |
| androidgirl Motor Baby  Age: - Gender: Female Posts: 922 | depression can easily be treated with a daily dose of MCR. if that doesnt work try talking to someone and find an outlet of your emotions and obvioulsy self harm isnt one of them. anyway if that doesnt work (again) try taking meds or something...go to your doctor, they'll konw what to do... |
| xXbeautifuldeathXx Killjoy  Age: - Gender: Female Posts: 23 | Teenage depression is possible. But it's bad to take medicine. I read an article about it in the LA Youth and teens usually think more of suicide while taking pills than without them. Therapy is good. |
| Drunk- Joining The Black Parade  Age: 32 Gender: Female Posts: 197 | In feb. this year i attempted suicide... I went to the doctors a month before and he gave me pills called fluoxetine and when i stopped taking them (i finished a box and then didn't go back for a repeat prescription) i attempted two days later... I started taking them again when i got out of the hospital. Now im off them and have been for about a month. I haven't even cut (properly) in about a month, but the truth is... I feel worse than ever. Everyone assumes I'm Ok and its easier that way because then i don't get the hassle of the questions, pretending you're fine is under-rated. Depression in teens is very serious, I'm fed up of being judged about it... I have been called a freak a thousand times, it gets old! |
| dont stop. Salute You in Your Grave  Age: 29 Gender: Female Posts: 4290 | xXbeautifuldeathXx:Yes, I've heard this too on a commercial. It recommended kids (anyone below 18 is a kid in my book) get therapy because pills tend to make them worse. |
| eepshyes Shotgun Sinner  Age: - Gender: Female Posts: 7323 | Teenage depression is very real to me. No, I don't have it. My sister does, she's 16. People don't realize that teenagers can have real problems, they're not just hormonal wrecks that don't know what they're doing. . . |
| AmberHurley Fabulous Killjoy  Age: - Gender: Female Posts: 164 | 1.teenage depression absolutly exists..... i went through it for a while 2. support definitly helps... well it did for me even though i wanted to be alone sometimes 2 3.it absolutly can... even though i have meds to help me |
| Lux Aeterna Thinking Happy Thoughts  Age: 30 Gender: Female Posts: 433 | Teenage depression I recken is best sorted with therapy. The problem with that is that often the kid doesn't let anyone know they are depressed. Thats what happened in my case. When I was severely depressed I kept it aaaall in. I wanted to be alone though at the same time I wanted to tell someone. A good friend is important. Personnaly I recomend an internet buddy, they helped heaps =] |
| AmberHurley Fabulous Killjoy Age: - Gender: Female Posts: 164 | ^^ ya i agree, i had a shrink nd he did help... im not depressed nemore becuz he forced me to talk about it.... and i think thts wat helped me... letting it all out |
| AmberHurley Fabulous Killjoy Age: - Gender: Female Posts: 164 | Giacomo Paradisi.: idk about tht... i had suicidal thoughts before i started taking meds.... not after |
| Rhys Webb Awake and Unafraid  Age: 32 Gender: Female Posts: 12341 | i talked with a psychologist when i was thirteen years old, and i had a slight form of depression. but, it runs on my dad's side of the family, so therefore i do believe that in some way, it is hereditary. i do believe in teenage depression, because even though your hormones are all out of whack, what do you do when a teenager comes to you saying he wants to kill himself? is that just hormones? is that just a phase that will go away in due time? i don't think so, which is why i believe that there is a depression for all ages. |
| The Original Bob. Demolition Lover  Age: 29 Gender: Female Posts: 16672 | I'm going to tell you a story. I'm 12, and when i was 11 one of my best friends got depression, she missed 3 months of school, but came back okay. This year one of my guy friends who i used to be really close too threatened to fucking commit suicide. He was 12 and didn't want to live. He missed a lot of school but came occasionally. His girlfriend told me this, and i wasn;t supposed to know, so whenever i saw him he looked awful, and it was getting harder and harder to pretend i didn;t know. Then school let out and i haven;t seen him. My best friend has freakin suicidal thoughts, regularily. and is depressed and takes meds. im 12 and have known 3 people with depression. (i know thats not quite TEEN depression, but still...) |
| Rhys Webb Awake and Unafraid Age: 32 Gender: Female Posts: 12341 | medicaiton doesn't do anything, it just makes you worse. |
| rachi_left4deadx_x Motor Baby  Age: 30 Gender: Female Posts: 802 | I spoke to my friends about this. Some have said that medication makes things worse, some says it helps. I think it depends on the person. Personally, medication didn't work. I was taking pills for my anxiety and depression. It just made things worse. |
| dont stop. Salute You in Your Grave Age: 29 Gender: Female Posts: 4290 | FADExTOxBLACKx:What I heard was that the meds work differently on teens than they do on adults. And that there is a big possibility it can make teenagers worse, not better. But of course, meds work differently for different people. Oh, and please no chatspeak on the discussion board. |
| Alice Cullen Fabulous Killjoy  Age: - Gender: Female Posts: 116 | 1. Do you think there's really teenage depression, or are they just moody/hormonal/overreacting? I think there IS such thing, but it's getting overlooked because of all the cases of it actually just being teen angst. Like many posts before me have pointed out, every third person you meet these days claims to have depression... so my question is, with all the 'self-diagnosed' kids out there, is society overlooking the REAL cases? Think about it- who would you pay more attention to at school - a lonely girl sitting in a corner (the real, professionally-diagnosed depressed teen) or someone screaming that they were going to jump off of the roof of the building? It's sad but true that some aren't getting the help they need because no one is concerned enough to suggest them seeing a doctor, and they're either ashamed of their depression or defiant about giving themselves up to a psychiatrist/psychologist. Um.. forgive me if that made no sense. @_@ Also, a lot of people at my school were actually faking having depression because it seemed 'cool' to have to go to a therapist. Could this be a problem as well? 2. If a teen is depressed, is family support needed or can the teen get better by themselves/with the help of one close family member or friend(s)? Well, family and friend support could help, yes, but it's not gonna make the depression go away. Since depression is a chemical imbalance, depressed teens need therapy and sometimes medicine to fix their screwed-up hormones in their brain... 3. Can depression be treated without the help of a psychotherapist/medicine? Not clinical depression, no. Something like SAD (seasonal affective disorder) could, though. |
| sparklinggrey Jazz Hands  Age: 34 Gender: Male Posts: 327 | Here's my problem: how do you know whether it's depression or not? |
| Alice Cullen Fabulous Killjoy Age: - Gender: Female Posts: 116 | sparklinggrey: You go see a doctor, who'll run some tests to see if there are any chemical imbalances in your brain. |
| mcr_vimto Killjoy  Age: - Gender: Female Posts: 15 | i think there is such a thing as teenage depression i would no cos i have recently got ova it but it really does help to talk to some one. i didn't tell anyone about what happened to me until about 6 months after it happened and believe me it really helps to tell some one so my advise to anyone that is suffering from depression is to get help weather it is from a friend or a relative or a doctor or some one at your school it really does help!!! |
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