Teen depression, as the name denotes, is a type of emotional disorder that affects teens. As far as the views of doctors and psychiatrists are concerned, teen depression and adult depression are not much different, though treatment options for both types of depression vary widely. Another point is that the symptoms of depression in teens manifest differently compared to how they manifest in adults. The major reason for this is that teens face completely different types of social as well as developmental challenges.
What Causes Teen Depression?
In general, the challenges faced by teens are peer pressure, performances in their extra curricular activities like sports, etc., changes in the hormones and in the hormone levels, development of the body frames, awkward tendencies and so on. Further, there are many teens who may not be able to cope up with the ups and downs of life. This may be a sign of depression also.
Due to depression, teens may face more-than-normal levels of stress and anxiety that may affect their social, personal and family life and their studies and may cause problems like social isolation. If the teens have been affected by extreme depression, they may have suicidal tendencies also.
Depression is a medical condition and teens who have been affected by it will find it difficult to get out of it easily. So, it has to be treated appropriately.
Teen Depression And Risk Of Heart Attacks
Several studies have been conducted on teen depression and some of the recent studies have revealed that depression during adolescence may predispose the affected people to severe cardiac risks when they grow up. Depressed teens are likely to become obese, take to smoking and to live a sedentary lifestyle even after their depression has been treated and cured. Therefore, the risks of heart attacks are quite high once these teens grow into adults. Their lifespan is also likely to be shorter than that of other children. But, these researchers are yet to establish when this factor of teen depression joins hands with risk factors like smoking, obesity, sedentary lifestyle, etc. to cause heart attack risks.
Teen Depression And Suicidal Tendencies
Another major problem that disturbs the families and friends of depressed teens is the suicidal tendency developed by these young people. Researchers have interviewed teens who have made suicide attempts and almost all the teens have confessed that they attempted suicide for escaping from a particular situation. According to these teens, they could not cope up with the situation and could not get rid of the negative feelings associated with the situation.
Why Some Of The Depressed Teens Attempt Suicides
These teens add that though their intention was just to escape from the situation, they could not find any better solution than to attempt suicide. Some of them say that they wanted to escape rejection or loss. A few others admit that they felt ashamed and guilty about some of their activities. There are others who feel that they felt unwanted and unloved and so, they wanted to end their lives.
In short, researches have revealed that there are strong links between teen depression, heart attacks and suicidal thoughts.