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Further Symptoms of Adolescent Depression
I addition to those symptoms of teenage depression already outlined you should be aware of the following:
Feeling like a failure, lowered self esteem/confidence, guilty feelings
When things go wrong in their lives, as things naturally sometimes will,
a teen suffering from depression may take the blame on themselves. This is an
insidious process that eats away at their confidence and increases negativity.
Dropping or losing friends
When adolescent depression sets in, formerly outgoing teens with a regular group of
friends may start to fall out with them stay home more often, just stop getting in touch
with people and begin to retreat into their own world.
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Inability to deal with rejection or failure - becoming hypersensitive
The lower their self confidence falls, the more a depressed teenager may become
sensitive to even small issues.They will construe things in a negative fashion and
become increasingly unable to cope with minor setbacks.
Becoming angry, hostile and irritable
Teens are often irritable - depressed adolescents even more so. They may be angry and
critical saying harsh and upsetting things to close family. In a pre-emptive strike for
their (founded or unfounded) expectation of being criticised themselves, they will 'get
in first', employing the concept of the 'best form of defence is attack'. This can be a
difficult aspect of teenage depression for stressed parents and siblings alike, to cope
with.
Notice a change in eating and/or sleeping habits
When the TV can be heard into the early hours, or it is evident that a teenager is
immersed in the virtual world of the Internet or computer games much of the night and then they spend
large portions of the day sleeping. Or when a teen develops eating problems - maybe
failing to eat regularly - (which can evolve into more serious bulimic or anorexic illness) or
perhaps eating too much (comfort eating leading to weight gain and obesity issues) these can also be signs of adolescent depression.
Additional information:
Be sure to see our information about more extreme symptoms of teen depression.
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