“Depression” is the last of fifteen teen articles received in spring 2024 from Piute High School students. Three of them were published in The Byway‘s most recent May paper. The rest will be featured online.
Mental Health, specifically depression, is affecting teens more today than ever before. Depression can be caused by many different factors including social pressure, family expectations, social media, environmental factors, and pressure to succeed. To help cope with depression, looking for the positive, talking to professionals, and parent education will help those people who suffer from depression. Let’s look more into these three main solutions for depression.
Teens who face depression need to look for the positive parts of their life. Fighting depression can be mostly mental. This is when changing your thinking is most important. Lisa M. Buckloh explained in the article “5 Ways to Help Yourself Through Depression (for Teens)” that “Depression affects a person’s view of things.” It can be very hard to look for the good when there is so much bad. Making a goal to find a certain amount of positivity in each day will make it easier to find it. The more good a person can find, the more good there will be.
When teens feel ready, talking to professionals and trusted adults can help with depression. There are many benefits from talking to professionals and doing therapy. Some of the benefits include learning how to control thoughts and behaviors, changing patterns and bad habits, and identifying and addressing emotions. Teens are more likely to talk to someone who will listen to them and understand without getting mad. Teens will open up more to those who won’t judge them. Over time, therapy and talking to professionals can help teens feel better and more empowered. Therapy can be an effective way to treat depression and help teens enjoy life once again.
Parent education can lead to stronger relationships with their teen and less depression overall. Parents might not know when their teen is going through depression. Most of the time, people with depression start to show signs. Rather than getting mad over different behavior, parents need to be understanding and calm toward their child. Parents should focus on listening, not lecturing, acknowledging their feelings, and being gentle with their teen. Talking and communicating feelings about depression can be very difficult for teens. In the article “Parent’s Guide to Teen Depression” from the website HelpGuide.org it states, “You’ll do the most good by simply letting your teen know that you’re there for them, fully and unconditionally.” Most of the time, teens who face depression just want to be able to trust someone. Parents can create that trust by being there for their teen without pressuring them. More times than not, teens will eventually feel that trust and open up to their parents. If parents don’t create that sense of understanding and trust, their teen won’t ever come to them.
Depression is affecting teens harshly in the world today. Being a teenager can be tough, but it shouldn’t feel hopeless. Teens are able to fight depression by looking for the positive, talking to professionals and doing therapy, and parent education. This will result in less depression and more happiness everywhere.
– by Taesi Morgan (10th) Circleville
Feature image courtesy of Abbie Call, The Byway.
Read more from Piute teens in Brain Rotting Phenomenon by Kole Westwood.