Depression

 

Depression is a serious mental disease. 
You feel prolonged sadness, frustration, anxiety.

Treatment
Depression is very much treatable. There are a lot of treatment options available. And about 80 to 90 percent people find relief using them. Don’t get worried if you are experiencing any symptoms of depression, you can surely cure it just like any other disease.

Depression Warning Signs 

• "blue" mood
• loss of interest
• frequent outbursts 
• sleep disturbances
• increased or decreased eating
• fatigue
• difficulty in concentrating 
• suicidal thoughts 
• alcohol and drug abuse 

Teen depression is not a static emotion, but rather may vary from moment to moment, month to month, or year to year. It is subjective and abstract, and must be viewed in all its biological, psychological and environmental complexity in order to be understood. Some adolescents will exhibit the classic symptoms of depression as outlined above. Other teens may describe a sensation of feeling "empty" inside. Some adolescents may stay too busy to feel much of anything, while having an intuitive sense that to slow down would bring on depression. Others may go through the motions of school and life but experience no joy. Some teens may appear strong and independent, but feel lonely and isolated from classmates. Teens who have been subjected to early traumatic experiences, such as physical, sexual, or severe emotional abuse, may be depressed but unable to describe what they're feeling (the thoughts and memories may be too frightening to allow into consciousness.) Teen depression can be different for all people. 

Stress

It is hard to convince a high-school student that he or she will encounter a lot of problems more difficult than those of algebra and geometry.
-- Edgar W. Howe

 Stress is often just thrown on teens. Some things that could stress out teens are:

• work
• school work
• relationships
• family problems 
• peer pressure
• expectations of parents or teachers to be perfect 

Boys and girls deal with stress in many different ways,

 

For boys

• 25% avoided or refused to deal with their stress, 
• 23% sought ways to distract themselves away from their stress, 
• 17% sought support, and 
• 35% actively tried to reduce their stress.

For Girls

• 19% avoided or refused to deal with their stress, 
• 14 % sought ways to distract themselves away from their stress, 
• 22% sought support, and 
• 45% actively tried to remove or reduce their stress. 

According to these statistics boys more often used the tools of avoidance and distraction while girls looked for support and actively tried to reduce their stress. Girls also think that they experienced more stress then boys, stemming largely from their relationships with boys and friendships with girls. Boys attributed their stress to authority figures, (teachers).


People of all ages have different signs of stress and cope with stress in many different ways.

 https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK2CQpZpI47BuCQywEcvODeO3-dJVlw79ixju1-0qloC7jcEY4UWAw8BopNNl4JiCDxkdho5rnwos4y0q6ISMjp8C3iEmWd4w4kjD3NWCd0dbDo8o08a25ijJWvpUlSt7QTZu3AQc06hw/s1600/Homework1.jpg
http://www.teenhelp.com/teen-stress/stress-statistics.html
http://www.signs-of-stress.com/images/StressSymptoms.gif
http://www.great-inspirational-quotes.com/teen-quotes.html

Alcohol and Drug Usage

Alcohol Advertising

Many teens have access to both alcohol and drugs whenever they want them. Drug and Alcohol addiction is a condition characterized by an overwhelming desire to continue taking a drug or drinking alcohol. Some teens might tell themselves they will only try a drug once, but many teens find themselves under peer pressure and continue to experiment with drugs and “join the party." Drugs play a major role in a teenager's attitude, schooling and even health. Many abuser's relationships, reputations, futures, wallets, self-images and especially grades suffer as a direct result of the drug abuse. 

 

 

 

 

 

Statistics  and Facts

• Teens that drink alcohol are 50 times more likely to use cocaine than teens who never consume alcohol
• Long-term risks of alcohol usage include liver damage, pancreas, certain cancers, and literal shrinkage of the brain.
• Marijuana is the most widely used illicit drug among America's youth today
• Drugs of any kind decreases teens' ability to pay attention.
• Juveniles who use drugs are more likely to have unprotected sex, sex with a stranger, as well as to engage in sexual activity at all.
• In 2004, the percentage of adolescents who have used any drug in the past month was about 27%.
• More commonly used when thoughts of failure, disappointment, guilt, and embarrassment flood a teen's mind

Signs of Drug Usage 

•  School work has declined; grades slip or start dropping dramatically
• Missing School (skipping secretly or too "tired" or "sick" to go)
• Mood changes (irritable, crying)
• Dropping out of usual activities (music, sports, hobbies)
• Physical appearance changing (poor hygiene, unusual style changes)
• Friends suddenly change (doesn't introduce new friends)
• Money or valuables missing from parents
• Furtive or secretive behavior
• Hostile, aggressive outbursts 
• Seems to have "lost" motivation 
• Forgetfulnes
• Unusual sleeping habits
• Depressed 
• Anxious
• Just doesn't seem "right"

  

  Some people can't control their drug addiction.

http://www.adolescent-substance-abuse.com/signs-drug-use.html
http://www.medicinenet.com/teen_drug_abuse/page2.htm
http://www.nida.nih.gov/Pubs/Teaching/Teaching3/largegifs/slide-2.gif

Teen Pregnancy

Teenage pregnancy is formally defined as a pregnancy in a young woman who has not reached her 20th birthday when the pregnancy ends

When a teen gets pregnant, there are three options that they can decide from: 

•  Keeping the Baby is when the mom keeps the child, it is important for them to have a stable home and they have support from family or friends.

• Adoption is when the birth mother gives her baby up because she cannot take care of it and does not have a stable life

• Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by the removal of a fetus from the uterus, resulting in a death of the baby. 

Symptoms of Abortion : 

•guilt

•regret

•shame

•lowered self-esteem                           

•dreams

•nightmares

•flash backs

•hostility

•hatred toward men

•crying

•depression

•suicide attempts

 

Statistics 

- The pregnancy rate among sexually experienced teenagers was 152.8 pregnancies per 1,000  women aged 15–19. 

- Out of all teen pregnancies, 57% end in birth. 

-Parenthood is the leading reason why teen girls drop out of school.  Less than half of teen mothers ever graduate from high school and fewer than 2% earn a college degree by age 30.

- Very few teens who become mothers plan on doing so





TV shows like teen mom and the secret life of the American teenager have had an increase in the number of teenage pregnancies. They show how hard it is to have babies and how much it changes your life but it makes it look like its the cool thing to do and its okay.These shows can have an influence on the way teens think about having sex and becoming pregnant.




Signs of Pregnancy

• difference in menstruation 
• bleeding
• nausea 
• fatigue 
• back aches
• head aches 
• frequent urination

http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/USTPtrends.pdf
http://www.stayteen.org/teen-pregnancy
http://www.americanpregnancy.org/gettingpregnant/earlypregnancysymptoms.html