Depression: What is it?

Depression is a mental health disorder that affects 40 million Americans. Which is more than the populations of New York and Florida combined. It is a feeling of constantly feeling sad or at loss. Depression makes you have little to no interest in accomplishing simple daily tasks. You may feel as though there is no point in even getting out of bed. It changes a lot about your life, including sleep deprivation, increase or decrease in appetite, hard time focusing, and suicidal thoughts. From experience, this all can make it really hard to live daily life as a growing teen. However, there is a difference in having depressing feeling and experiencing depression as a condition. This disorder is generally caused by genetics. It’s “a combination of biological, psychological, and social sources of distress.”
 
How can you work to help this? There are a couple common treatments. Therapy can help by talking through issues and feelings you may be dealing with. Counselors can be a trusted source to share with them. If your therapist and you feel it is time to take another step to getting better, talking to a doctor might be a possibility. There they will introduce the idea of antidepressants. These will help by balancing chemicals in your brain called neurotransmitters that affect mood and emotions. These depression medicines can help improve your mood, help you sleep better, and increase your appetite and concentration. It may take a while but whatever you can do to get you to a better place in your life, you should really consider it. Just remember, you are not alone and there is no shame in getting help!

Story  by Isla Scully

Works Cited
“The State of Mental Health in America.” Mental Health America, 17 Oct. 2017, www.mentalhealthamerica.net/issues/state-mental-health-america.

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