Young and depressed
Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.
More posts by Christiane Fux All content is checked by medical journalists.Being young isn't always fun: you want to find out who you are and where you are going. You want to cut yourself off from your parents and become independent. And then the hormones go crazy too, and the body changes. If you add stress at school, with friends or lovesickness, the drama is perfect.
So it's no wonder that young people during puberty are often sad, confused, irritable and closed - dissatisfied with themselves and the world.
For some teenagers, however, grief and withdrawal are not a passing, normal phase, but rather signs of depression. Depression is more than sadness: it is a serious mental illness that urgently needs help.
Signs of depression
Typical emotional signs of depression are:
- You doubt yourself.
- You feel listless, anxious, and have trouble concentrating.
- You are irritable and react aggressively quickly.
- Your mood fluctuates a lot.
- You have trouble concentrating and you don't get along well in school.
- You feel overwhelmed.
- You withdraw.
- You feel desperate and hopeless. You may even think about killing yourself.
Depression can also manifest itself physically:
- You have physical complaints that have no physical cause: This could be a headache, for example.
- You lose weight without wanting to.
- You may find it difficult to fall asleep or wake up at night - or you could oversleep all day.
Often overlooked
Depression is often overlooked for a long time. This is even more often the case with adolescents than with adults. Because with them, the symptoms of depression are quickly confused with the normal puberty problems.
If you don't have a specific cause for your depressed mood - such as lovesickness or a parenting separation - and the negative feelings last for weeks and months and don't get better, the chances are that depression was behind it.
Depression in adolescence is not a rare phenomenon: up to 20 percent of adolescents experience one or more phases of depression by the time they grow up. Young women are affected twice as often as young men.
Depression can hit anyone
Mental illnesses are no more a sign of weakness than physical ones. It can also affect people who are emotionally very strong. For example, the politician Winston Churchill, Bundesliga goalkeeper Robert Engke and the extreme climber Alexander Huber suffered from depression. So being depressed is not something to be ashamed of - you are in "the very best company"!
How depression develops
Depression occurs when various unfavorable circumstances come together: genes play a role (biological factors), but also what kind of personality you have and how well you have learned to deal with problems (psychological factors). Another decisive factor is how much support you get from family and friends. If everything is stable in these three areas, nothing can knock you over quickly. It is different when one is pre-stressed: Then additional stress can trigger a depression.
Don't be afraid of the therapist
To be sad from time to time or to have a lousy phase is completely normal and will eventually pass. However, it is difficult to get out of a real depression without professional help. And the longer you wait, the worse it can get.
If you have been experiencing signs of depression for a long time, it is best to first contact your family doctor. He can refer you to a psychiatrist. He will discuss with you whether it makes sense to take drugs that lighten the mood - so-called antidepressants. And whether and which psychotherapy is right for you.
Incidentally, psychotherapy is nothing scary. In psychotherapy, for example, you will learn how to cope better with stress and how to keep negative thoughts in check that are pulling you down. You learn to better recognize what is good for you and what is bad. These are all things that will not only help you overcome depression, but will also make your whole life easier in the future.
You can find more information and help here:
- You can get anonymous help under the "number against Kummer": 0800-1110333. The advisors there can also tell you about offers of help in the area.
- http://www.deutsche-depressionshilfe.de/
