“If you’re depressed, what can you do? How can you help a friend who’s feeling down? How can you tell the difference between having a bad day and serious depression that could lead to suicide?
Dr. Karen Khaleghi, Ph.D., a Los Angeles psychotherapist and mother who is writing a book on depression, answered some of these questions.
Why are teens depressed? Some are depressed because they’ve experienced emotional physical and sexual abuse. Others may have gone through a loss, such as a friend becoming distant, or a family member’s death. Most teens struggle with life changes. Hormonal changes, which bring with them more intense feelings of depression, happiness, sadness and excitement, can turn into an emotional roller coaster, Khaleghi said.
Being a teenager also creates new expectations in behaving or performing. You can not get away with as much as you did as a kid. How many times have you heard your parents say, “Well, you’re no longer a kid.” On the other hand you are not quite an adult, and you don’t have the same privileges or responsibilities as an adult does. This creates a sense of loss.
“All of us feel depressed at one time or another. But some people experience severe depression, which mental health professionals call ‘clinical depression.’ Clinically depressed teens are very withdrawn. They often look depressed, with their heads held down, hair over their faces, and they try to hide inside their clothes so they won’t call attention to themselves,” said Khaleghi. “Depression is the biggest part of their everyday lives.”
If you are clinically depressed, you don’t have to suffer in silence. Reach out for help immediately. Your depression won’t go away until you do.”
