Depression and Slovenian youth
1. Introduction
Depression is a common term for a sad, low mood or emotional state. It has plenty different symptoms which are not always as visible as it is commonly believed. There are many different types of depression and the most complex among them is teenage depressions, which is too often mistaken for a bad mood, occasional melancholy or merely sign of puberty. We have to be aware that depression is a common and serious disease. Society often disapproves depression, due to their ignorance for the actual problem that is hidden behind bad mood.
However, teenage depression is not merely melancholy. It is a serious problem that impacts all aspects of a teenager's life. The untreated disease can lead to problems such as drug abuse, self-loathing even suicide. Though depression can be treated with anti-depressant, it is healthier for teenager to receive help firstly from their parents, school workers or friends.
In our PBL project we will research how common is depression among youth, how can be treated, where can young people seek for help and how people respond to someone who is depressed. In conclusion we will provide some suggestions on how teenagers can avoid depression and solutions which might help others to recognize this serious illness.
2. Depression
Some people say that depression feels like a black curtain of despair coming down over their lives. Many people feel like they have no energy and can not concentrate. Others feel irritable all the time for no apparent reason. The symptoms vary from person to person, but if you feel "down" for more than two weeks, and these feelings are interfering with your daily life, you may be clinically depressed.
Depression is a mental disease but it is as serious as physical diseases. Many people who are depressed take pills and seek doctors that are qualified for healing mental diseases. The first step in the healing process is to visit doctor and admit to your self that your condition is not solely temporary. For these reason it is not possible for a patient to heal themselves easily without any medical support.
Depression among youth is therefore very dangerous. When teens are suffering for depression they are very sensitive and apart from doctor help they also need support from their friends and family.
Depression is also reflected in victim’s everyday life. They become less productive in school and unsociable. “Apart from that the low mood persists, interfering with your ability to work, study, eat, sleep, and have fun, it’s no longer normal. It is depression.” (Melinda Smith, Robert Segal and Jeanne Segal, 2006).
“Apart from the fact that we don't know exactly what causes these sudden changes in behaviour, the depression can be cured. It doesn't go away easily. Depressed people need to find a medical help since it is not patients fault to become depressed. Although many patients, who are suffering for depression, think it is their fault.” (Krka, d. d., 2008).
3. Who can get depression?
Depression can affect anyone and its effect may vary depending on age and gender. It is hard to expose the exact type of people that are more susceptible for depression. 'Researches speak that there is possibility for one of six people to become depressed. It is also more common in woman population than man. The highest risk for becoming depressed have people that are chronically ill' (Krka, d. d., 2008). Depression is also becoming more common among youth. Every one out of 20 adolescents is depressed (Krka, d.d., 2008).
4. Main reasons for depression among youth
There is no single cause for depression. Many factors play a role. Most important causes are biological, social, psychological and medical; however chemical imbalances and lifestyle factors are also included.
Biological causes in the development of depression include genes and hormones. Depression runs in families, although it is difficult to find out how much of this is due to genetics and how much to environmental influences. “Cortisol—a hormone the body produces as part of the stress response—has been found to be elevated in some depressed people. However, like neurotransmitter imbalances, it is unclear whether the elevated stress hormones cause or are caused by depression. (Smith S. and Jaffe J., 2007)
At a higher risk of developing depression are people whose relatives suffer from depression.
Certain psychological and social factors can as well cause depression, particularly isolation and loneliness, stressful life events, personality traits (introversion, low self-esteem, pessimism, dependence) and childhood trauma and loss. For some teens stress, adversity, and loss early in life create a vulnerability to depression. Particularly at risk are children who lose parents through separation or death. Comprise of physical or sexual abuse, family turmoil and strife, and parents who suffer from mental illness, including depression are also among other childhood stressors that can later on assist to depression. It is more like for a child to tend to depression if it grows in a pessimistic environment, in which discouragement is common.
Medical conditions as well can affect mood and lead to depression. Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis and other illnesses that affect brain can provoke depression through the process of disease itself. As an example, depression can often occurs in diseases that influence on body hormones or the immune system. Chronic pain or disability, caused by health problems can also trigger depression. If the physical problems cause major upset in someone's life and if that person is not able to adjust, the risk of depression is very high. But the cure for a certain disease can sometimes have side effects – cure can cause depression. This can happen especially when drugs are taken over long periods of time.
Important circumstance is also lifestyle. Unhealthy way of living, for instance exaggerated drug and alcohol use, a poor diet and sedentary daily routine can cause depressive episode or make an existing depression worse. Lack of exercise can also help the disease to rise.
5. Main symptoms of depression
Depression among children and youth has only started to be seriously described in the last 20 years. However, sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between depression and normal phase of growing up among children and youth.
Depression in preschool children is practically not described. Depressed children in lower grades of elementary school usually complain about physical problems or pains, also they can be seemingly physically ill. They do not want to go to school, they are tired and they excessively cling to their parents and have irrational fear of different things, for example that their parents are going to go away or die.
Older children are frequently headstrong, they have problems with learning, are deviated, ready-witted and they feel misunderstood. Depressed youth is even more rebellious, they skip school, relent at learning, abuse alcohol, drugs, refuse help, they can get aggressive or even thinking about suicide. But on the inside they feel grief, fear, weakness, suffering, etc.
6. Depressed youth in society
Depression is typical for people who are overloaded with work. But we often forget that also young people can have depressive disorders. Growing up is a very complicated process. It brings a lot of experiences, problems, etc. So young people, aged from 18 to 25 years are going through very rough time. They are trying to be successful at school, to understand with parents, to hang out with friends, to find the person to live with for the rest of their lives, some of them also wants to work, because of their own money. In a word, they are trying to have a perfect life. And sometimes this strong desire for perfect life brings depression.
Though it is completely normal for teenagers to feel sad, angry or irritable from time to time, long term moodiness and irritability (which are one of the sings of depression as already mentioned) can become quite dangerous if feelings of that kind start to appear more constantly and intensively since depression strongly affect teenager’s life.
Because young people are trying so hard to success that they forget who they really are. They do not want to understand that maybe they are not capable to deal with all of the stuff of the real world. But in a moment when they realized that they can not do what they want, their system simply »shuts down«. They run out of energy, feel down, disappear and withdraw from society. Young people do not isolate themselves completely like adults tend to do when depressed, they usually isolate from their family, some friends, socialize less or they simply change their circle of friends. And as our interviewee stressed out they just do not see the sense in hanging out with their friends and they lose interest in doing things they once used to love to do. Loss of interest often leads to alcohol or drug abuse, skipping classed and afterschool activities.
Young persons who suffer from depression do not know exactly why to live for, because their perfect world collapsed and they have no idea how to go on. When someone falls so deep, he maybe starts thinking that drugs will bring him back.
7. Response from society and peers
Society looks on depression like it is something bad. Society thinks that a person with depression does not like company, has too many problems with which they do not want to deal with.
Family and friends have the ability to recognize depressed person they know well. People who are close to depressed must respond with love, kindness or support, hoping that the sadness will soon pass away. They should offer a kind talk with sick person and try to understand their problems. If the sadness and depressed feelings do not pass away they have to find a professional help, doctor, counsellor or a therapist.
Many people do not understand depression and they criticise sick person for being lazy (in school, studying) and moody. Some people think that depression is just an attitude issue and acting front that person can shake off. But many people soon find out that this is not as easy as it sounds.
Even sick people do not take their condition seriously enough. They feel that they are weak. This can even be harmful if people hide their illness-depression and do not want to accept help from anyone.
8. Curing depression
Depression is a mysterious disease, which can be treated with several medicaments. But medicaments cannot really fix all that bad feelings which come with depression. For those people, who are depressed, it is more important to change their whole lifestyle. For that kind of treatment, people must find their deepest power and become self-confident. Of course, they can not do it by themselves. So, friends and family also have very important job in treating depression. They have to stand by those depressed people.
8.1. Non-medical help
Since talking to depressed person is the first step for his/her recovering, depressed persons should first seek for help among closest people they know such as girlfriends, boyfriends, best friends, best school mates, parents, teachers, etc.
Teenagers with depression have to trust their problems to someone who makes things easier for them. They should also find some professional help, like doctors, psychologists who can offer them more realistic approach. The so called »reality-check« is crucial for depressed individuals, because their view of life is affected by their grief and is distorted.
People that are close to a depressed individual can help with a kind word and a shoulder to rely on. Depressed person really needs to get a comforting feeling from the people, that have a big role in his/her everyday life to so he/she can start trusting other people and let them help him/her.
Depression, which saps energy and self-esteem, interferes with a person's ability or wish to get help. It is an act of true friendship to share your concerns with an adult who can help and not betraying a person’s trust what is often misunderstood by a depressed person.
Talking about feelings to someone who can help such as psychologist is the first step towards beating depression. Talking to a close friend can also provide with the support and encouragement.
But in real life it is not so easy to find a person to talk about your personal feelings. So, nowadays drugs are more popular »medicine« for curing depression than friendship.
8.1. Self-help
Teenagers should not be blamed if they are depressed and there are certain ways to get out of it by them-self. It is very useful if depressed person stays connected to friends and family, shares his/her feelings with someone he/she trust. Even though depressed persons sometimes do not feel like seeing anybody or doing anything, they should try not to isolate themselves since this only makes depression worse. Exercising and dieting are also known to be very helpful with coping with depression (Barston, S., Smith, M., 2007).
9. Preventing depression
9.1. Parents, schools and other organizations
Adolescence is a delicate period in process of growing up. Dr. Lešer advises that parents should solve problems without dispute and rather with calm conversation. Though parents need to set boundaries for their young teenagers they should be careful on how they set them and they should explain why they decided to limit child’s exit hours, restrict alcohol, cigarettes, etc. Teenager must know what behaviour is expected from him/her and why. It is also important for parents to be a positive and good role model for their child and to find a middle path between teenager’s will to be independent and on the other hand between his/her responsibility and obligations. (Dr. Lešer in Mohorič 2008: 25)
Besides parents, school also has a huge influence on teenager’s development. Teachers and school counselors should be adequately prepared to help child who is stressed out or needs any other emotional, moral help. Therefore some schools in Slovenia cooperate with organizations such as Zavod za zdravstveno varstvo (ZZV) and others which offer lectures and workshops for teachers on how to recognize, deal and prevent depression.
9.2. Self-preventing
“Stress and worry can take a big toll, even leading to depression.” (Barston, S., Smith, M., 2007). When feeling overwhelmed by school work, classes or exams youth should be able to discuss that with their teachers or school counselors. It is also important for them to stay social, spend time with friends and be physical active. Apart from physical activity food it self is also very important since certain food can make person feel sluggish and tired, which can worsen depression symptoms.
It is true that being among friends can help one to get over hard times but on the other hand they should spend less or no time with people who make them feel insecure, abuse drugs or any other substance. Even though playing video games or surfing online can be fun, time spent doing that should be limited to minimum.
10. Research methods
We performed an interview with 21 years old boy who we found while reading one of the forums about depression where he sentenced that he recovered from depression. Interview was sent to him via e-mail and contains 11 questions concerning depression and dealing with it.
11. Conclusion
Depression is a physical illness that can also affect youth. It should be taken seriously and treated as soon as the first symptoms arise. It is important to distinguish between temporary bad feeling of irritability and depression. While feeling of sadness will decline with some time, the disturbance of depression can proceed even for years, changing young persons’ personalities and in long term, changing their future lives.
We said that too strong desire for perfect life can bring depression. But that is not the only motive. Modern world is combined of different people. Some of them are »normal«, or in other words their are not showing themselves to the world, they are staying in the background. Some of them are different. Maybe because of the race, religion, lifestyle… And when they want to include themselves in social life, they can not be accepted very well. That causes trouble, sometimes depression. They may think that something is wrong with them. In fact, problem is in the society, because they do not want to accept people who are in a minority. So depression is not just matter of one individual, it is also the matter of society. It is some kind of a circle. Depression can be treated with society and can be caused by society.
12. Bibliography
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- Friebel, V. (2000): Depresije : prepoznavanje, preprečevanje, zdravljenje. Ljubljana : Slovenska knjiga.
- Mohorič, K. (2008): 'Depresija pri otrocih in mladih,' ABC zdravja, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 24-25. http://www.abczdravja.si/pdf/08jan24.pdf (accessed 29 February 2008)
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- Office of Applied Studies. Depression, youth & new drug use: Depression and Initiation of Alcohol and Other Drug Use among Youths Aged 12 to 17. http://www.drugabusestatistics.samhsa.gov/2k7/newUserDepression/newUserDepression.cfm (accessed 29 February 2008)
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- Depresija. http://www.ezdravje.com/si/zivcevje/depresija/ (accessed 7 March 2008)
- Barston, S., Smith M., Segal, J. (2007): ‘Dealing with Teen Depression’, Helpguide.org. http://www.helpguide.org/mental/depression_teen_teenagers.htm (accessed 7 March 2008)
13. Glossary
Appendix