Teenage Depression | What Is The Cause Of Teenage Depression?

With the progress in time and technology life has become fast, easier, and mechanical at the same time for everyone. Likewise, an impeding issue like depression has also gained ground alongside modernization. A number of people suffering due to various reasons exhibit signs of multiple mental health disorders throughout the world. Teenage Depression in many cases, like, for example, in sections of society where mental illness is stigmatized or in financially backward sections, goes unnoticed, henceforth, untreated.

The percentage of people suffering from some kind of mental disorder is a whopping 10.7% worldwide, among which the percentage of people with depression is 3.4%, according to the World Health Organization. If we further inspect the data, the percentage of teenagers suffering from depression is 20% among the 13-17yrs populace of the world. Also, suicide remains to be the fourth leading cause of death among the 15-29yrs age group. Striking, isn’t it?

What is The Cause of Teenage Depression?

Is your teen exhibiting irritable and rebellious behavior quite often these days? Is he or she showing tendencies of closing down on the rest of the world and engaging too much in social media? Is he or she is unable to focus rightly on the essential things? Are they eating or sleeping too little or too much? If the answers to all of these questions are yes, it’s time for you to take your child for professional help.

What is the cause of teenage depression?

The answer to this may vary extensively. An adolescent may show such tendencies for one or multiple reasons. A few of them are pointed out below:

Academic Pressure
Peer Pressure
Environmental Stress
Parental or Family Issues
Perpetual Abuse
Sexual Orientation
Heredity & Genes
Biological issues, like diabetes, for example.

The above reasons are just a few to reckon with while discussing the causes of teenage depression.

Symptoms of Teenage Depression

Some facts about teenage depression that one needs to keep in mind are,

Depression depends on triggers, and triggers vary from one child to another.
Teenagers with depression might experience body pain, stomach pain, and headache, which mostly seem unreasonable.
Fatigue, lack of concentration & over or under-eating also might mean that the child is actually depressed.
Few teenagers might not even show signs of depression explicitly. Keeping a close eye on your kid is important, and if required, therapeutic treatment may counter the problem.
Depression often is accompanied by undefinable anxiety.
Kids with depression are often very sensitive to failure or rejection.
Suicidal thoughts.
A depressed child might experience a lack of sleep at night.
Withdrawal from the outside world.
He or she tends to become more unmindful & indecisive.
An acute inclination towards alcohol, drugs, and/or sex.

Why is A Teenage Depression So Common?

According to statistics, 20% of the total number of teenagers worldwide are victims of depression. Parents and adults often fail to comprehend the mental turmoil that a teenager might go through during his/her growing-up days. Teenage Depression is so common these days because of many reasons, which include parental pressure. To outperform their peers, the children are often overburdened by their parents with insurmountable pressure to achieve, at times the unachievable.

Apart from this, social media plays a significant role in triggering depressive feelings among teens. In spite of the useful role it plays in creating an identity for them and helping them communicate with others and share their views openly. Social media also has a negative impact on teenagers. It can distract them, unsettling their sleeping patterns while exposing them to bullying, the spread of rumor, impractical views of other people’s lives, and peer pressure. A prolonged time spent on these platforms may cause depression.

According to the data, 9 out of 10 boys &6 out of 10 girls are susceptible to being exposed to sexually explicit content on the internet or otherwise before 18yrs. This is something to worry about greatly.

Since neuroplasticity of our brain is at the highest during our growing up days, a child’s mind is easily shaped by what he or she sees or experiences. Therefore, the effect of pornography will have a long-lasting impact on a child, which may lead to unprotected sex, addiction as well as acute depression due to suppressed sexuality.

Apart from the above reasons, some diseases, ensuing medications, history of depression in the family, childhood trauma, and abuse also “why is a teenage depression so common” worldwide.

Treatment & Cure

Teenage depression tends to trigger in episodes. Once a teenager has one episode of depression, they are likely to get depressed again. The result of letting teen depression go untreated can get awfully serious and even fatal.

If you really think that your son or daughter is depressed, the first step is to get professional help. There is a general belief that makes us wary of psychiatric treatment. As we think the only remedy for depression is antidepressant pills, the fact remains that adolescents are seldom prescribed these unless it is really necessary.

The first thing the doctor does is counsel you and your child together and separately and suggest some vital lifestyle changes. According to the requirement, the specialist might also ask you to consult a clinical psychologist or speak to your child’s school counselor.

In many cases, it is seen that the child is reluctant to seek medical help due to a plethora of reasons. In such circumstances, it is suggested that you talk to them about the matter extensively also read related topics out to them so that they understand that depression is a common disease and can surely be cured.

Teenage depression has already cost a lot of lives and is still one of the major concerns in the present world. It’s time not to take it trivially anymore.