Teen Depression - Comments

My brother has it, and he gets all the attention so they don't see it happening to anyone else..

Good Article.Some Things I Read Seemed Familiar,Especially The Feelings And Behaviour.INTERNET ADDICTION.

Good article, I was so upset recently after being diagnosed with depression, sepshly since my mum has it as well. I've had to mention it at school with people and when people hear about it they look bad after calling me emo and saying I tried to kill myself for following a trend.

you did a great job on this article. They really should try to develop a medication suitable for teens. For some of us, like myself, counseling alone isn't enough. But my mom won't let my doctor put me on medicine because shes afraid I will just end up killing myself or something.

D: You described me there, I ended up being forced to talk to my mum about it yesterday, and she just said that all the shit I confessed to feeling and thinking about was just me being a teenager, when that stuff really torments me. I mean she took me to see a psychiatrist when I was nine to tell me I was clinicaly depressed, but she won't believe me now.

Depression is not fun, that was me last year. This article is great because it shows that there are more symptoms and reasons for depression than people think. I also like it because it can help me, help my friends who are depressed.

"Nowadays, you cannot tell who's genuinely depressed, and who's following the emo trend and cutting just for fashion. "
If they havent been diagnosed with depression, they can't say they have it.

I agree with what people have said on here; you probably SHOULD have a medical opinion before you actually say you're depressed, but I believe there are some circumstances where it should be obvious and not neccessarily needed.

I'm speaking as one of those people; my great-aunt - who has raised a paranoid schiophrenic son and bipolar/depressed daughter - recognized what was going on right before I was ready to try suicide. I didn't REALLY talk to more than three people because I've known them for at minimum four years and trusted them with my life. Two were had been diagnosed with it, the other I'm pretty sure is getting it.

It IS an illness, and shouldn't be joked about. Dying isn't funny, it's real and forever. Unless you're Nikki Sixx you're not coming back [he died twice and was revived both times, that's why I mentioned it]. I have friends that didn't believe me, and the day I lost it all I think they knew I wasn't kidding. I'd gotten in a fight with my whole family, had my heart ripped to shreds, and couldn't figure out why my best friend was mad at me. I thought I had no one; I was already starting to die inside.

These feeling's are there for real, I can't understand why anyone would fake it. I don't think I've ever been 100% happy since the day I was ready to die, but I deal with it. I'm not on medication because I don't believe in it, although I probably will be when I'm older considering my mom and cousin are bipolar and I have two uncles, my grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-aunt who suffer from depression.

Talk to someone, anyone. It helps so much. My sisters [my two best friends] saved my life, and they basically keep me from going under again. It's real, and serious. People need to stop kidding around if you actually feel like this, or it can kill you. It's as bad as any drug in the world.

i think i am.
but if i tell them, thell put me in that place.

I was diagnosed with depression when I was still too young to take anti-depressants.
Given the choice now, I'd never take them. My best friend was sent to a teen psych ward rather that take anti-depressants, and she works in a pharmacy. Those things are such high-risk. You can feel you've become dependant on them. That the side effects are suicidal feelings just strikes of how useless they might be..

The fact that despite this article there are still people saying 'I'm depressed, this proves my point,' is ridiculous. Obviously missed the point of this article entirely.
Until you have a medical opinion, please do not claim to be depressed.

You're all writers here. There are plenty of milder words, such as 'down', 'low' or 'upset' that could be put with various other words ('slightly', 'extremely' etc) to describe situations. I do wish people were more careful with language.

Depression is an illness. Saying you're depressed because you're down, is similar to saying that you've had a heart attack because you had a pain in your chest. The pain could be strong or weak, and I'm not contesting that, but it does not necessarily mean that it was a heart attack at all.

I have depression, and take anti-depressants.
I could not honestly care how and if they mess up my mind, because without them [i]I wouldn't have a mind to mess up.[/i]
All I know is that I have luckily had no side effects and no increased or decreased anything with the excpetion on my mood. I feel more movtivated to do things, I have more energy, I can think more clearly and I don't want to do anything to myself. For one of the first times of my life I feel alive.
I take lexapro, and thank whatever being out there for it.
I really couldn't care less if I get a little odd. I was always really damn odd to begin with.

Looks like I am depressed. Lol.
I've known that since I was 8 years old. Runs in the family.

I've been thinking I'm depressed for a while now. I'm just not sure and could never ask my therapist about that. Its not that I lie to her, I just don't talk about all the shit, and focus on telling her about good things its easy. But its really a nag not to know, all the symptoms apply to me but I really can't know, unless a doctor tells me right?
That wouldn't work though, mum would find out, and she already has way to much to worry about.

I really wish there was a test, scientifically approved, cos I've talked many but can't really trust Internet tests.

In order to have 'proof' of depression, you need to consult a medical authority. Printing stuff from the Internet because it could apply to you is not proof. I mean, I am very much like The Doctor but I do not proclaim that since I am like him, I am an alien.

I urge anyone who thinks they are depressed to see their GP.

It's about time there's some proof regarding the fact that anti-depression medication actually messes up a still developing brain...
I told that to my doctor probably a year and a half or so ago when he tried putting me on anti-depressions and he decided to ignore me / did not get a direct response. My mother didn't buy my theory, either, but things like that just make sense to me since I have a very scientific thought-process.
I'm glad a professional has finally figured it out, though.
I think similarly about things like giving ritalin to children and such to calm them down. That's totally ridiculous, it's going to end up throwing their brain off balance. Same with the anti-depression pills and such. It may help them as they're young, but when they're adults it will come back to haunt them because of an abnormal distribution of some hormones and the brain-chemical stuff since while taking the medication as their brain was still growing it created an unnatural fix which, to how it'd make sense to me, would convince the brain that it does not have to create a certain chemical if said chemical is being put into the body anyway, so when the chemical is no longer being put into the body the brain would not know how to cope and create this chemical for itself since as it was growing it was not allowed to fix itself. ...I bet that hardly made any sense, I just totally rambled, but... neh. I had to get it out. XD

A lot of people seem pretty cheerful about having proof their depressed.
I personaly feel depressed about it...
Is that a good thing?
Oh dear...
=(

Yeah, my parents never noticed, and when I said anything they act like they have never noticed it. It really sucks, and if I show them your article, I know they wont believe me anyways, and that Im paranoid. =( parents just suck.

what do you know this fits me all the way and yet my mother has read this but won't believe that I am depressed, the fact that last year I use to talk to everyone in school and this year I talk to two people if that shows that I have changed not to mention the fact that I have lost over 100 punds in the last two mounths but I just don't seem to want to eat any more all I seem to want to do is fight, yell and cry but i can't do any when I'm at home becasue it is a sign of weaknees so I have started to cut, tell me what happens to most depressed people that cut when there in one of there darkest mood, I can probly guess you'll end up like me at the hospital and the talking to someone who "really cares" about what you think, so don't be like me if you feel like this get help or it could end up almost killing you like it has me but yet I don't seem to be able to stop not even knowing that if I mess up I could bleed to death can make me stop, I'm to far for any one to evere help me but if your like this your not hopefuly as fare as I am and you can get help for it.

just a few words: Depression it sux

but sometimes we all have to go thru it and we just have to make ourselves stronger from it

I'm just wondering when we get off the topic of teenage depression and on to the plain topic of depression. There are adults out there who have serious depression;
Depression that isn't noticed as often.