Life Is Hell

5 Pages 1313 Words

“ Life is hell!” This comes out of the mouth of a bright, 16 year-old boy named
Max, who had seemed not to have a care in the world. Tim is quiet and polite- the model
student and son during the week but falling down drunk on Saturday night. Then there is
Jackie. She wrote a note to her friend saying “ Life is just more than I can handle
sometimes.” Is Jackie looking for attention or is she crying out for help? Are pressures
from his peers or pressures from himself bombarding Tim? Max, is he just having a bad
day or is there something deeper? If we take a closer look at these stories, we can realize
there is something that ties them all together. This is not a group of friends. They suffer
from a serious epidemic that affects people all over the world, depression. Depression is a
disorder in the brain that affects how one feels, acts, and thinks. According to a report by
he National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, or NAMI, millions of teens suffer from
depression. So, what problems come about because of teen depression? What is causing
teens to become depressed and how can we help these teens?
Most of us think of depression as something that just makes people sad and
withdrawn, but there are other severe problems with being depressed. Many teens lose
interest in things that ordinarily were a blast. According to the National Depressive and
Manic-Depressive Association, things such as sports, listening to music, dating, and
having fun with friends, diminish in a depressed teens life. They often just want to be
alone. Life becomes too much to handle and they feel that if they are all by themselves it
will all just go away. Yet, this isolation can actually cause more problems than are solved.
If a teen isolates themselves they are not going to deal with their problem. Some dangers
concerning school also surface from teen depression. Dr. David Fassler, a child and
adolescent psychiatrist, sta...