Teenage Depression

Teenage Depression

According to Young Minds, in a school of 1,000 pupils aged 14-18, 50 of them might be seriously depressed. As many as 1 in 5 could be affected at some time. We investigate why more and more teenagers are suffering from mental illness.

A difficult time

Being a teenager has always been difficult. Emotions and moods change rapidly. Many teenagers feel confused and afraid when the safety of childhood is left behind. These days, experts say that things are even harder. Peter Wilson, the Director of Young Minds, says, “We live in particularly difficult times for a growing youngster. There are huge cultural pressures and a lot of broken homes. Kids may have difficult relationships with parents, or in other cases, have no one to support them.”

No one is happy all the time

Everyone feels unhappy, lonely or misunderstood from time to time. But a small number of teenagers become depressed for weeks or months without change, and they begin to find that they can’t continue with their normal lives. Many teenagers don’t want to ask, or don’t know how to ask for help. Perhaps they don’t even realize they are depressed. It is usually other people – friends, parents and teachers, who identify the simptoms of depression and offer help. One teenager explained that after a close friend had died, “I stopped believing that anything could be any good anymore. I became very aggressive, I snapped at my parents and I touch with friends. Things were bad for me for a year until, fortunately for me, a teacher noticed that things were wrong.”

            If you recognize these symptoms in yourself or a friend, there are lots of things that can be done. You can’t expect yourself, or someone else to just ‘snap out of it’. You need to find ways to cope with the feelings.

How to help yourself or someone else

If you are worried about a friend, listen to their problems and try to be sympathetic, and be patient. Most importantly, try and help them find help. If you’re feeling blue yourself, don’t panic – you need to try and understand your emotions. You are not the first person to feel like this. Try writing things down in a diary or talking to a friend. Perhaps writing a poem or song, drawing a picture or listening to music will help you express and understand your emotions. But most importantly of all, do something you enjoy, whether it’s watching TV, playing sport or just going for a walk.

Talk to someone

It is a good idea for teenagers who feel depressed to try and talk to someone they like and feel comfortable with. But if they don’t want to talk to their teacher or school nurse or maybe their doctor. Alternatively, there are telephone help lines which give confidential help to anyone with a problem. Talking to someone might help others to cope with how they are feeling.

There is someone who can help

Sometimes, depression can become a very serious problem,and teenagers think about trying to escape their feelings. They might consider suicide or self injury. When the problem has got so bad, professional help from qualified specialist counselors is vital. Counselors are trained to talk to people about their worries and problems. It is important to remember that everyone feels sad and unhappy sometimes, it is natural. Remember that, no mattter how bad you feel, the feelings of sadness and happines will come to an end.

1.    Vocabulary

Match the words or phrases from the article with their definitions.

1.     Broken Home	C	a.    Harm that you do to yourself deliberately
2.     To snap at someone	H	b.    To recover quickly
3.     To lose touch	E	c.    A family where the parents have separated
4.     To snap out of it	J	d.   To deal successfully with a situation
5.     To cope	D	e.    To lose contact
6.     Blue	I	f.     A telephone advice service
7.     Help line	F	g.    A person professionally trained to talk to people about their problems
8.     Self - injury	A	h.    To speak to someone angrily
9.     Counselor	G	i.      Unhappy (informal)
10. Symptoms	B	j.      To recover quickly

2.    Comprehension

1.        Teenagers don’t want to become adults.                                                                         T/F

2.        Teenagers often don’t know how to get helps with their depression.                             T/F

3.        Other people are usually the first to see that you are depressed.                                     T/F

4.        A common symptom of teenage behavior is moody behavior.                                        T/F

5.        It is easy to recover quickly from serious depression.                                                     T/F

6.        Talking to a person who is depressed is a good way to help.                                          T/F

7.        Telephone help lines are a private way to talk about your problems.                              T/F

8.        Anyone can be counselor.                                                                                                T/F

9.        Everyone feels miserable sometimes.                                                                               T/F

NB : The letter that mark bold is the answer!!!

3.    Roleplay Activity

Student A       

You are depressed because you think you are accused. You try to talk to people but they just tell you that you’re being blame of habit. You are desperate to continue normal life and always be moody.

Student B

You are worried about your friend. He / she is depressed about him/her problem. But, you can’t understand it because he/she good – looking. Recently your friend has strange and always be

Some new vocabulary

1.        Pupils : student : siswa

2.        Suffering : menderita

3.        Rapidly : quickly : secepatnya

4.        Expert : professional : ahli

5.        Particularly : especially : istimewa

6.        Huge : big :besar

7.        Cultural pressures : tekanan budaya

8.        Youngster : teenager : anak muda

9.        Perhaps : maybe : probably : kemungkinan, barangkali

10.    Identify : mengenali

11.    Symptoms : gejala

12.    Snap : tidak akur

13.    Notice : see : pay attention : perhatian

14.    Recognize : know : mengenali

15.    Snap out of it : menghibur

16.    Cope : akur, menanggulangi

17.    Blue : sad : sedih

18.    Poem : puice : poetry

19.    Whether : apakah

20.    Confidential : secret : rahasia

21.    Escape : run away : lari

22.    Suicide : self – injury : bunuh diri

23.    Vital : important : essensial : utama, penting, pokok

24.    No matter : how : seberapa, tak masalah

25.    Lost touch : hilang komunikasi

26.    Miserable : tidak senang

27.    Silly : stupid : pandir, tolol, bodoh

28.    Desperate : yang sangat menyedihkan, nekat, putus asa

29.    Recently : akhir-akhir ini

30.    Mood : suasana hati

31.    Childhood : masa kanak-kanak

32.    Realize : menyadari

33.    Acceptable : bisa diterima, diperbolehkan, sesuai aturan

see you next time...