Welcome to Self Help and Wellness
Depression In Teenagers Article
. For a permanent link to this article, or to bookmark it for further reading, click here.
You may also listen to this article by using the following controls.
Chronic Depression
from: Self Help and WellnessChronic depression is a disorder that lasts for a long time such as 2 years or more. It can refer to ongoing depression that never subsides or to depression that comes and goes. Chronic depression is not necessarily severe depression. It's just depression that continues over time.
Chronic depression is often treated with medication after other therapies have failed. A therapist will try behavioral, cognitive and group therapy before medication will be described. Using prescription drugs is usually the last treatment choice. But when you don't respond to these other treatments, then the doctor may decide to prescribe an anti-depressant. It's important to understand though that the other treatments will continue in conjunction with taking medication. Using prescription drugs is not normally a permanent solution except in the most severe cases.
There is a type of depression called dysthymia which is usually chronic depression. It's chronic but seldom severe. The symptoms of dysthymia include the following.
* Inability to concentrate
* Constant guilty feelings about your life
* Suicidal thoughts
* Low self esteem
This chronic depression is long lasting and ongoing. You might experience these symptoms every day for years. There are essentially no extreme ups and downs like you find in other forms of depression. It's more a lack of joy in your life and feelings of inadequacy that hold you back. As you can see from the list of symptoms, dysthymia is not as debilitating as other more severe forms of depression. It seems to stay more thought based.
Dysthymia can occur in at any time of life. This chronic depression has no particular age association which means children, teens or adults can develop this disorder. Because the person doesn't exhibit overt physical or emotional problems, it can be difficult to diagnose -- especially in children or teens.
Dysthymia needs to be treated as soon as possible, because it is a chronic depression. It can lead to more severe depression as times goes by. This is true for all forms of depression as a matter of fact. Depression does not heal on its own. If you are chronically depressed, you need to seek treatment because the depression will continue without intervention.
Chronic depression is depression that lasts for more than 2 years. Most people who experience depression are able to seek treatment and end the downward spiral of depression. But for some reason that medical researchers still can't explain, there are people who don't respond to treatment. If you are one of them, there's still many alternatives you therapist or doctor can pursue in order to get you the help you need.
Identifying disorders such as dysthymia can be difficult. If you go through life never feeling joy or pleasure, then you should take a depression test. Then you should consider how long you have been experiencing your symptoms. Identifying chronic depression is the first step in the cure for the disorder.
Depression In Teenagers News
Deceived by their parents' flattery, today's teenagers believe they ... - Guardian Unlimited
They are calling them the "smug generation". These are the children of American baby boomers who are inculcated by their parents with such faith in their own brilliance that they are shattered in later life to discover that they are not actually much ...
Read more...The Way It Was #1,061: Comparing the Depression to today's financial ... - Bedford Times Register
How does the huge drop in the stock market now in 2008 compare with the market crash in 1929? What effect did the Depression that followed have on the daily life of ordinary working people? Those of us who remember that far back were students or ...
Read more...A would-be teen suicide helps others - Philadelphia Inquirer
One year ago, Jordan Burnham, then an 18-year-old high school senior, was lying in a hospital bed, unable to speak, fighting for his life after jumping out a ninth-floor window. Yesterday, in a new chapter in his life, Burnham told the story of his ...
Read more...Reaching Out To Help Teens Save Email Print - WTAP
Each year two million adolescents attempt suicide mostly because of depression. One man and his family are fighting this disease that hit close to home by reaching out to others. Teenagers from Sand Hill United Methodist Church act in this ...
Read more...This is the teenager’s brain on peer pressure - Science News
Highlights from day four of the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting WASHINGTON — Tuesday, November 18, 2008, was the fourth day of the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting, and topics remained diverse: What happens in the brain in teenagers ...
Read more...Teen moodiness or serious depression? - Herald News
Q: My 15-year-old daughter has incredible mood swings. One day she’s on top of the world, the next day she’s in the depths of despair. Is this normal? A: It is normal for adolescents to experience extreme mood swings. The teen years are a time of ...
Read more...