Teen sheds light on depression battle
Nearly one in six students has seriously considered suicide and one in 12 has attempted it. There are multiple reasons why a teenager might become depressed. For example, teens can develop feelings of worthlessness and inadequacy over their grades, school performance, social status with peers, sexual orientation, or family life. No appetite or excessive eating, loss of interest, increased fatigue, complaints of pain, sadness, drop in grades, no sleep or sleeping all the time are just a few signs of depression. Depression can lead to dark thoughts, which can include wishing to be dead, wishing to hurt themselves, wishing to hurt others either emotionally or physically. Teens don't know how to deal with depression.
Emotionally, teenagers don't know how to cope with depression, especially while hormones are on the rise. Being young we simply don't know what to do. We are confused, irritated, hurt, and miserable, at least in my experience.
Where do we go to for help when nobody understands? Who can we trust? Who won't judge us when we tell what's on our chest? Who can fix these feelings? To answer these questions briefly, going to the counselor seems like a great idea, maybe for some. In my experience they simply don't know how to handle and assess the situation; they look at me like I'm a helpless animal trapped in a cage. Go to a doctor or a therapist. Therapists cannot judge and try to help through these feelings and a doctor can help listen, provide a therapist, and give you medication. Medication can decrease the risk of suicide and self harm and so can a therapist.
Irritated slashes on the wrists, I've seen it all too much. Dark moments. I've seen people so happy, with broken smiles and scarred wrists. One day at school a guy in the hallway dropped his stuff. I helped him and saw a fresh straight cut across his wrist. I gathered his things, gave them to him, and asked him why he did it and he replied, "Because my life isn't as perfect as yours." Those words still sting today. What most don't understand is cutting is an addictive behavior - once you start it's almost impossible to stop, like smoking. It's not always the wrists people cut, it can also be the leg; more specifically, the upper thigh. Why the upper thigh? It is easier to hit a dangerous vein in the wrist than on the thigh. In addition, the cuts are easier to hide on the thigh.
As I stated earlier, it can result in bad grades.
"Stress from school may be considered one of the major causes of teen depression," says ChristiaNet.com. Receiving bad grades in a certain subject can put tremendous pressure on youth and sometimes it's the parents who put stress on the teen because they want them to excel in school. Or, it's the other way around! A student may be doing poorly because they simply give up, which has been my case. Sometimes I feel like I'm not worth anyone's time and that I can't do it, I can't succeed.
Teenagers don't know how to cope with depression. Some cut themselves because they feel it's the only way out of the pain they're in, and it can drastically change a student's grades. But what? As my reader, why keep listening? Why wait for me to continue? I'll tell you why: It can easily lead to suicide in a second, like that last moment as the knife pierces vertically down the wrist or handful after handful of pills are taken. What then?
"Did you try to kill yourself?" the reporter asked Demi Lovato, a lifeless expression across her face. "No, but if I went too far, I don't think I would have cared."
Take that for note, breathe that in.
Sydney Grecco, 14, is a former Coeur d'Alene and Post Falls resident now living in Portland.