Depression Education

What is depression?

Depression is defined as a prolonged low mood lasting at least two weeks but often longer. Similar to anxiety, times of sadness or feeling blue are typical for everyone. However, when low mood, sadness, and lack of enjoyment last longer than two weeks and start to impact your ability to perform your daily tasks, it becomes depression.

Use this example to understand depression better. Imagine you were hanging out with your friends, and someone mentioned a birthday party that all your friends were invited to, but you were not. Odds are you are going to feel sad or mad that you weren't invited too. In the week leading up to the party, you find yourself crying, avoiding your friends, and feeling generally down. After the party passes, you return to your regular routine with your friends and start feeling better. The feelings of sadness pass, and you are able to go about your daily tasks. This is sadness.

Now imagine this same situation occurs; however, on the following Monday after the party, the sadness persists. You can't shake the blue feelings despite your friendships returning to normal. As you continue through your week, you struggle to find joy in almost everything; you are sleeping more, have lost your appetite, and feel a sense of general worthlessness. Three weeks pass, and you continue to feel somber. It's starting to impact your ability to focus in school; you are missing assignments and skipping out on hangouts with your friends. You are getting persistent thoughts that you are worthless, life is meaningless, and you will never experience joy again. This is depression.

Common causes and types of depression:

As discussed in the introduction portion of this manual, the origin of mental illnesses is quite complex. There can be many reasons why someone may experience depression. While pinpointing an exact reason for depression requires professional help, understanding the general causes of depression may help you better understand where these unpleasant feelings might be coming from.

Life stressor- Major, unpleasant, and stressful life events may trigger depression. Life obstacles such as family conflict, friend dynamics, academic pressure, grief, moving, or missing out on an important or exciting opportunity may trigger depression. Knowing whether your sadness, anger or low mood is proportional to the situation is important. Of course, if something unpleasant occurs in your life, it is expected to feel down, but is this sadness persisting and impacting your daily function? Then, it could be depression.

Biological factors- Did you know that depression can be genetic? Depression occurs when changes in your brain chemistry decrease the amount of happy messages sent to your brain. Some people are born with fewer of these messengers, which means depression or depressed feelings can arise without a trigger. Talk to your parents and family to see if depression runs in your family.

Social media- How often have you opened up social media and left feeling worse than before? The digital age can make people feel more lonely than ever. Researchers have been looking into the effects of social media on the teenage brain and have found that teens who spend extended time on social media experience lower self-esteem, more self-doubt, poorer body image, and are at a greater risk for depression.

Environmental pressures- Those around you significantly influence your mood. That means things like home environment and friendship can affect your happiness. Pressures from parents and/or friends can result in feeling like you won't measure up. Take a look at your social environment. Is there something or someone that is influencing your mood?

Seasons- Have you ever heard of Seasonal Depression/Affective Disorder? This is a form of depression that can occur as a direct result of decreased sunlight exposure. Typically, this type of depression starts around the fall or winter and subsides in the spring or summertime. Individuals who live in places with more extreme seasons are more at risk for this type of depression. Still, even in places like Southern California, changes in the seasons can bring on a drop in mood. If you are feeling down, think about the weather lately. Has it been gloomy, or is it getting dark earlier? Has this affected your routine? Are you spending less time outside than usual? This may mean the weather is impacting your mood.

Myths about depression:

"Depression is just a fancy word for being sad." - MYTH, a common symptom of depression is sadness, but it is much more than your daily drop in mood. Depression influences an individual's ability to participate in their life tasks. Depression includes many more symptoms beyond sadness; teens specifically tend to experience a lack of energy and irritability either in place of or in tandem with sadness.

"Depression is just a phase; teens will grow out of it." - MYTH, depression is a serious mental illness that often requires professional help. It takes work to acknowledge and address depression. Treatment looks different for everyone; while some people may be able to manage their depression using self-help strategies, others may need to lean on professional help or medication. Once symptoms are managed, depression doesn't always go away for good; many people will live their whole lives with depression. It is important to note that depression flare-ups are not failures; some days may be better than others, but learning to manage symptoms and take back your life is an integral part of the process.

"People with depression are weak." - MYTH, depression is a mental illness caused by changes in the brain. Many people experience depression, and being brave enough to speak up about it makes an individual strong. Working through depression takes a significant amount of strength and courage.

"They can't be that depressed. They were happy yesterday." - MYTH, depression can occur in waves. For some individuals, depression can result in constant sorrow. For some individuals, positive life events can bring genuine joy. During stress-free periods, a person with depression may feel and behave as if they are happy and/or depression free. However, once those moments fade, the depression often resurfaces, causing the individual to slip back into a low mood and experience depressive symptoms again.

What does depression feel like?

Depression looks and feels different for all individuals. Depression affects your body in three significant ways: physical sensations, cognition or thinking sensations, and behaviors. These are common signs and symptoms of depression to help you better identify depression in your body.

Physical:

Irritable, easy to anger
Feeling extremely tired
Napping more than usual
Lack of appetite
Eating more than normal
Losing or gaining weight
Physical aches or pains
Symptoms of sickness without an illness present
Brain fog
Inability to concentrate

Behavioral

Withdrawing from social events
Avoiding or stopping participation in activities you used to enjoy
Easily agitated
Emotional outbursts
Thoughts or engaging in self-harm or suicidal ideation

Cognitive

Negative thinking (automatic and unconscious thoughts pop into the brain, typically of a negative nature. Ex. "This is worthless." "I will never feel happy again.”)
Lacking any emotions, feeling numb
Feelings of hopelessness
Catastrophizing thoughts (intense and pessimistic thoughts of possible outcomes. Ex. If I fail this quiz, I will fail the class, then I will not be able to graduate, and I will end up with a job or home)
Self-doubt or poor self-esteem
Feeling like you and/or the world is moving in slow motion

Why is there such a stigma and what can you do about it?

There is no one reason why there continues to be such a significant stigma surrounding mental health and mental illness. Researchers have proposed many reasons for such stigma; some of the most common contributors are described below.

Invisibility of struggle - Mental health/illness often appears invisible to those around a person, making it difficult to see and understand others' challenges. This can also lead to a societal perception of those with mental health challenges being weak, which in turn deters people from speaking up and asking for help.
Lack of knowledge - Mental health/illness is largely not well understood, which results in false perceptions of the challenges and individuals struggling. Even doctors and scientists are still trying to understand mental health. However, great gains in research have been made in recent years.
History of social rejection - It was only until the most recent decade that mental health has been talked about so openly in the public. Due to the long history of silence and outcasting of those with mental illnesses, many individuals still see it as a taboo topic, decreasing their acceptance of learning and talking about it.
Cultural differences - Mental health and culture can be largely intertwined. Each culture carries its own perspective on managing and talking about mental health. These cultural differences can make it difficult for people to discuss mental health cross-culturally, leading to continued division and stigma towards the topic.
Familial perception - When thinking about children, they learn a lot about the world from their family and those they grow up around. Parental perception towards mental health and dealing with emotions play a huge part in how children grow up to manage their own emotions.

It is evident that there continues to be a stigma towards mental health and mental illness. While some great strides in education and social acceptance have been made in recent history, there continues to be a need for much more work to be done. One of the best ways you can fight the stigma is to educate yourself and engage in the discourse surrounding mental health/illness. This resource is a tremendous first step to growing your understanding of the topic and doing your best to end the stigma. Continue through this resource to learn more about mental health and its specific effects on teens; with the knowledge that you gain, you could do amazing things for yourself and those around you. By having even one conversation, you could save a life!

Interview

Do you think you are experiencing depression or know someone with depression? What can you do to help?

Like other mental illnesses, depression presents differently in everyone, and what works for one person may not work for another. There are various ways to manage depression, including at-home solutions, therapy, meditation, medication, and more. Discovering effective coping strategies for yourself and your loved ones takes time and effort. This depression toolkit provides general tips and tricks alongside hands-on activities and worksheets to help both teens (and adults) navigate through depression and depressive thoughts. The resources were developed through a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) perspective. CBT focuses on identifying negative thought patterns and unproductive behaviors. It assists you in recognizing your thoughts and evaluating whether they are helpful and truthful. You can retrain your brain to adopt more positive thought patterns by engaging in CBT activities. It also looks at your behaviors and helps you determine whether they reduce depression or prolong it. The advantage of these worksheets is that you can complete them at home. While there are therapists trained in CBT, the fundamental concepts can be applied independently, allowing you to explore these therapeutic strategies at your own pace. Explore the available resources and give them a try! Download and print the worksheets that speak to you!