Doctors see depression as a serious medical condition that affects approximately a fifth of all teens at some point. You should deal with it like a disease or condition- it needs treatment.
If you're contemplating suicide, call a suicide hotline right away. They can probably also help you find resources for dealing with non-suicidal depression.
If you're a teen, you should tell the adults in your life you can trust, including your doctor, until you find an adult who takes it seriously and has access to resources. If there are no adults in your life you can trust, talk to friends to find a parent or another adult who's trustworthy and has good judgement. And tell your close friends- their support can make a huge difference.
Under depression people suffer. You can get help to lessen or stop the suffering. You need not be alone.
You may think you want to be alone, that it's embarrassing or painful to tell others, or that others don't care. These thoughts are part of depression! Most depressed people have these thoughts and feelings. Later when they are over it, many are very open about their depression. Depression causes the view that you don't want others to know. It creates all sorts of reasons that make you feel "I need to keep quiet". It's not true. Even if it takes a leap of faith to believe that, believe it. Tell the people close to you. Get help.
The best therapy for depression is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).
Short term depression is usually caused by meanings invented by the brain. While other kinds of therapy may help for short, mild depression, CBT is the best. If it's severe or long-term, CBT is the only proven kind of therapy. (Note: Concussions can also cause depression.)
Note this article, by Dr. David Burns. It says that therapy can be short and effective! Especially note where he says: "In fact, that's one of the most common causes of suicide (is that) the therapist didn't realize just how depressed and despondent the patient was." NOTE: If a therapist doesn't ask you how depressed you are, on a scale of 1-10, at the end of each session, get a new therapist. They should be asking at the start of each session, too.
David Burns is a world expert in CBT. He wrote the book: Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy. See his free course in the next paragraph.
On Burns' front page is a simple 5-question mood test.
Fill it out and add your email address and he'll send you a free course about depression
including some powerful tools to change the way you think and feel.
Plus, he has some podcasts. -
(The first one to start with is at the bottom.) and
a 20-minute TED talk.
ECouch - Is a site teaching CBT skills, for people with emotional
problems. It is
available for $27 on the web!.
The challenge for a depressed person is to actually do it,
instead of listening to the mood that says: "Ignore hope!"
It also helps with Anxiety & Worry, Social Anxiety,
Divorce & Separation, and Loss & Bereavement.
Note: If you've worked through it, I'd love to hear your experience.
For more resources, see this article about resources, and BetterHelp.com has affordable therapy with a live therapist over the web.
At the same time, you're welcome to keep reading. These are my mostly-naive ideas. You're welcome to email me about it.
Depression: a condition of general emotional dejection and withdrawal; sadness greater and more prolonged than that warranted by any objective reason (though often one is certain that the reasons warrant such great sadness.)
If you're depressed, look to the following 9 web pages for these 3 results:
The goal is to move out of depression into building a life of joy.
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