According to several statistics run in the last couple of years, approximately 4 out of 100 teenagers suffer from depression each year. Therefore, parents must start identifying all the warning signs that show their kid might be suffering from depression. First of all, make sure you do not confuse sadness with depression. We all might feel blue every now and then. Nevertheless, depression has specific characteristics that must be attended as soon as possible.
There are several signs that your kid is going through a depression. For example, if he/she starts having problems at school, in the relationship with his/her family and/or friends or if by any chance you suspect that the use of drugs or alcohol is involved, then the problem may probably be depression.
Depression is a serious clinical condition that can affect any kind of person. It has serious effects over your feelings, your thoughts, behavior and overall health. Any time a person gets depressed, it is important to provide rapid attention and treatments when necessary. If depression is not treated, it can get worse.
There are two different kinds of depression: the sad one, known as major or reactive depression; and manic-depression or bipolar illness. Symptoms for sad depression are: a feeling of sadness that does not go away, the lost of confidence (you feel guilty for no reason), a negative attitude most of the time, people may even think that nothing good will ever happen in their lives, the person will also forget a lot of the things and will have problems concentrating, most of the time he/she will have an ill-tempered mood, plus some problems with the sleeping time, the eating patterns and thoughts about death, which may come up constantly.
Manic-depression will make the person feel like he/she is on top of the world, have unreal ideas about his/her abilities, the person will be jumping from one idea to the other without any logical connection between both and the person will dare to do risky things. Moreover, hyper action will not allow the person to feel rested and rebellious and irritable moods will dominate that individual.
Nevertheless, serious misconceptions about depressive individuals are running on the streets. First of all, we all must understand that depression is not a sign of weakness or failure to face the adversities of life; depression is an illness that needs immediate treatment. Treatments for depression often include counseling (talking to a specialized psychologist about your problems) and medicine (often used to treat severe depression). Treatments help people feel better in just a couple of weeks. The only thing needed is help and understanding. Do not let your kids get lost in problems and depression.