All too often, depression is left untreated because people fail to recognize the symptoms and believe that it is just normal sadness, a phase that a teen is going though, or a sign of weakness. This can be a terrible mistake. It is important to know the symptoms so that you can distinguish depression from occasional normal sadness or moodiness.

Common symptoms of depression include:

• Sad or irritable mood
• Loss of interest in activities once enjoyed
• Large changes in appetite or weight
• Difficulty sleeping or oversleeping
• Slow or agitated movement
• Loss of energy
• Feelings of worthlessness or guilt
• Difficulty concentrating
• Frequent thoughts of death or suicide

Most teens experience some of these symptoms occasionally, but if a teen has a number of these symptoms for more than a few weeks, he or she is likely to have major depression and may need professional help. Teenagers often show depression in other ways as well.

Some other signs to watch for include

• Frequent headaches, muscle aches, stomach aches or tiredness, without a medical cause
• Frequent absences from school or poor performance in school
• Talk of or efforts to run away from home
• Being bored, sulking
• Lack of interest in spending time with friends or family
• Alcohol or substance abuse
• Social isolation, poor communication
• Fear of death
• Extreme sensitivity to rejection or failure
• Increased irritability, anger, hostility, or crying
• Reckless behavior
• Neglect of clothes and appearance
• Difficulty with relationships
• Changes in mood

This entry was posted on Monday, January 28th, 2008 at 5:22 am and is filed under Stress Management, Behaviour. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.