- What is Depression?
- By Jen Garnett
Clinical Depression
is a serious illness that can affect anybody, including teenagers.
It can affect your thoughts, feelings, behavior, and overall
health.
Most people
with depression can be helped with treatment. But, most depressed
people never get the help they need. And, when depression isn't
treated, it can get worse, last longer, and prevent you from
getting the most out of your life. Remember, you're only a teenager
once.
What are the
signs of depression?
- You feel sad
or cry a lot and it doesn't go away.
- You feel guilty
for no real reason; you feel like you're no good; you've lost
your confidence.
- Life seems
meaningless or like nothing good is ever going to happen again.
- You have a
negative attitude a lot of the time, or it seems like you have
no feelings.
- You don't
feel like doing a lot of the things you used to like-- like music,
sports, being with friends, going out-- and you want to be left
alone most of the time.
- It's hard
to make up your mind. You forget lots of things, and it's hard
to concentrate.
- You get irritated
often. Little things make you lose your temper; you overreact.
- Your sleep
pattern changes; you start sleeping a lot more or you have trouble
falling asleep at night. Or you wake up really early most mornings
and can't get back to sleep.
- Your eating
habits change; you've lost your appetite or you eat a lot more.
- You feel restless
and tired most of the time.
- You think
about death, or feel like you're dying, or have thoughts about
committing suicide
Six Simple
Steps to Help Fight Depression
1) Get help. Don't be
ashamed of needing medication, and don't give up until you find
something that helps. And see a therapist.
2) Identify your feelings
and moods. Depression is a self-destructive effort to avoid feeling.
Accept that emotions are natural and helpful. Learn that mood
changes don't come "out of the blue" - they are always
started by an event, a memory, a dream. Use the Mood Journal
to identify what starts your mood changes.
3) Challenge depressed
thinking. People with depression remember and blame themselves
for bad events, while they forget about and give others credit
for good events. Their low expectations mean they often don't
prepare adequately and give up too easily. Worst, they think
they are essentially different - damaged somehow - from other
people. These are all learned habits of thought that can be unlearned.
Pay attention to your assumptions and beliefs.
4) Let others know.
Depressives fear intimacy more than most people. We put on masks
for the world, because we believe our true selves to be shameful,
unworthy. But this belief is wrong. When we're with someone we
can trust, sharing our thoughts and feelings - even if they seem
unimportant - is good for us.
5) Take care of your
self. Learn to pay attention to messages from your body. Depressives
abuse themselves by not eating right, not exercising, then expecting
to work 12 hours straight. They will deny a minor ache or pain
until they have an ulcer or a chronic back condition. Take time
for moderate exercise, eat healthy but delicious meals, and allow
yourself some pleasure in life.
6) Practice detachment.
We spend far too much time and effort trying to control things
that aren't worth the struggle. Many things that worry us are
really unimportant; we've just gotten over involved and lost
our bearings. We may find that we're trying to change things
that we realistically cannot change. Instead of battering your
head against a brick wall, learn to walk away.
- _______________________________________
-
- author: Jen Garnett
www.therightsense.com
- _______________________________________
-
- ARTICLE POSTED
November
6, 2004
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