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Depression is something that can affect people of any age, race, ethnic or economic group. There are two kinds of depressive illness: the sad kind (which is called major or clinical depression), and manic-depression or bipolar disorder (which is when feeling down and depressed alternates with being hyped-up and sometimes reckless).
You need to have your teen evaluated by a professional if he/she is showing several of the following symptoms for more than 2 weeks or if any of these symptoms cause such a big change that it is beginning to affect your teen's personal and academic life:
- Overly emotional and cries easily. Has frequent emotional outbursts or quietly cries over the smallest things.
- Battles with a guilty feeling that he/she cannot shake.
- Losing confidence in one's self.
- Has a persistently bleak attitude towards life and cannot shake the feeling that there's nothing good to look forward to anymore.
- Withdraws from social circle, even to the point of quitting clubs/organizations that he/she used to love being a part of.
- Has a hard time concentrating or remembering things, seems a lot more distracted than usual.
- Is more irritable than usual and can lash out at people at the slightest provocation.
- There are noticeable changes in sleeping patterns (sleeping too much or too little, sleeping too late or too early, etc.)
- There are noticeable changes in eating patterns (eating too much or too little).
- Feels an overwhelming sense of lethargy, like they're tired all the time.
- Talks about death, dying, or hurting one's self.
Manic Symptons of Depression:
- They feel as "high as a kite", or feels as if they're on top of the world in some instances. When they're happy, they're excessively happy.
- They have grandiose, often unrealistic ideas about their abilities and what they can do.
- They are unable to stick to a thread of thought. Their minds race from one thought to another.
- Their personality makes them constantly the life of the party, like a whirlwind going around social groups.
- Initiates or participates in extremely risky activities like daredevil acts, dangerous sexual encounters, etc.
- Have trouble sleeping because they're so hyper and cannot turn their minds off.
- They're often rebellious and difficult to get along with.
Approximately 4 percent of adolescents get seriously depressed each year. Clinical depression is a serious illness that can affect anybody, including teenagers. It can affect thoughts, feelings, behavior, and overall health. Teens with depression can be helped with treatment.
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