Causes and Symptoms of Depression in Adolescents

Uncomfortable atmosphere or quarrels with friends may seem simple to adults. However, it is different if the condition is experienced by teenagers. If allowed to drag on, this can trigger depression in adolescents.

Teenagers often experience mood swings. That is why, teenagers who look depressed or sad are often considered normal, for example because of a broken heart, getting bad grades, or feel less attention from parents.

In fact, it could be a symptom of depression in adolescents. If left unchecked, this condition can continue and lead to the desire to hurt yourself, even suicide.

Various Trigger Factors and Symptoms of Depression in Adolescents
Depression in adolescents can be triggered by a variety of factors, ranging from the environment, hormonal changes, traumatic experiences, to genetics or heredity.

Usually, depression in adolescents causes complaints and symptoms in the form of:

• Easy to cry, offended, and angry because of simple things.
• Loss of interest in doing daily activities.
• Easy to blame yourself.
• Difficult to concentrate, often skipped, and the value of lessons dropped.
• Sleeplessness and insomnia.
• Easily feeling tired.
• Frequent headaches or stomachaches.
• No appetite or overeating.

Depression in adolescents is more difficult to detect, because adolescents do often experience mood changes. Therefore, parents, families, and teachers must be more sensitive to changes in adolescent behavior.

If changes in mood or behavior of adolescents seem to last long and to disrupt their activities, the teenager should be immediately taken to consult with a psychologist or psychiatrist.

Some questions that will usually be asked by psychologists and psychiatrists to find out whether someone is depressed are:

• Are there certain things that are disturbing your mind?
• Do you feel
• Have your appetite and sleep patterns changed?
• Do you feel tired lately or like you have run out of energy?
• Has there ever been a desire to hurt yourself, or even a desire to commit suicide?
• Have you been using alcohol or drugs lately?

The Role of Parents Helps Overcome Depression in Adolescents

If a teenager is declared suffering from depression, the doctor will give him treatment in the form of psychotherapy and antidepressant drugs, antidepressant drugs.

During treatment, parents need to do the following ways to help their teenagers recover from depression:

1. Learn about depression

The first way parents can do to help teenagers overcome depression is to learn everything that is related to depression, for example how to react and how to communicate with people with depression.

By knowing information about depression, parents can better understand what their children are actually experiencing and feeling.

2. Listen to children's stories

Being a good listener is one simple step that parents need to take. When going to listen to children's complaints and stories, choose a comfortable place or atmosphere.

Parents can also lure children by asking simple things, such as: How was your day? What are you feeling How are your friends? Ask slowly and don't appear to be interrogating.

When a teenager feels comfortable telling stories without being judged and feels trusted by his parents, usually he will want to be open about the problems he is facing.

3. Encourage teens to adopt a healthy lifestyle

Exercising can help improve mood. Therefore, to help a teenager relieve symptoms of depression, encourage him to exercise regularly. As much as possible, also balance with other healthy lifestyles, such as eating nutritious foods and getting enough rest.

4. Limit the use of gadgets

To help overcome depression in adolescents, parents also need to provide rules and time limits for using gadgets. Invite children to more often do positive activities and get along with a good environment.

Symptoms of depression in adolescents are often veiled and fail to be detected. In fact, this condition cannot be considered trivial and its handling cannot be done in a short time. Therefore, adults as parents or teachers need to be more observant in recognizing mood and attitude changes in teenagers.

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