one in eight [part two]
I'm the girl who everyone loves but honestly I am fakeand I am dying right
before your eyes. My smile makes everyone's heart race when honestly I am just another disgrace.
this was written by another girl on myspace. i don't know if she wrote it herself or got it from some other source. but either way, it described how she felt at the time. it actually came after many posts stating how much she hated her life, how she wanted people to stop telling her how pretty she was, and how she just wanted to move away.
i write about these two girls and tell you that i know many more that write and feel the same way. these are symptoms of depression. and i'm finding more and more young people dealing with it. here is a list of symptoms that i found on teenhealth.org.
>depressed mood or sadness most of the time (for what may seem like no reason)
>lack of energy and feeling tired all the time
>inability to enjoy things that used to bring pleasure
>withdrawal from friends and family
>irritability, anger, or anxiety
>inability to concentrate
>significant weight loss or gain
>significant change in sleep patterns (inability to fall asleep, stay asleep, or get up in the morning)
>feelings of guilt or worthlessness
>aches and pains (even though nothing is physically wrong)
>pessimism and indifference (not caring about anything in the present or future)
>thoughts of death or suicide
this site says that when someone has five or more of these symptoms most of the time for 2 weeks or longer, that person is probably depressed. depression is very common and affects as many as one in eight people in their teen years.
wow! one in eight. that's pretty astounding. but i would tend to agree with that statistic just from my own experience. what i'm unsure of is whether parents, teachers, or any other adults in the lives of these young people know that they are dealing with depression.
how about you? do you know a teenager who may be dealing with depression?
It would be interesting to know what the root cause of depression is amongst American teenagers.
They are the most educated, healthy, and well-fed teenagers in history.
And they have more possessions, are more well-traveled, and they have more oppertunities that their parents did as teenagers.
What is it in such a culture that produces as many depressed kids as we produce?
Posted by
Steve |
9:35 PM
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