The Depressing things about Depression

I wished to find out the current issues of teenagers and came across this link: BBC - h2g2 - Teenage Depression. What it is basically trying to say is that when humans grow up, the go through a phase during the age of 13 to 19 and the specialists termed this phase as “teenage depression”. Many things that teenagers do that adults and everyone else in common find wrong and just plain strange are classified as depression.

Most people out there think that depression is a disease that is cured and has written symptoms. Common perception: “he is not himself, is he suffering from depression? Should we refer him to a doctor? Should he have anti depressants?” This is indeed what most of us think.

As humans grow up, they develop not only physically but also mentally. Their capacity to think and assess risks is increased and their cognitive capabilities are heightened. Therefore, when these abilities are fully developed, we have our own ideas and morals. We wish to do things in our own way and anyone who decides things for us is labelled as “not needed”.

So, all this led to adults and the so called specialists to describe our actions as a condition known as depression. And then, this leads to advice to coping with depression, how to treat it and how to make sure that it does not affect you. However, I believe all this is just a psychological construct; something to help us compartmentalize teenagers’ feelings and actions.

I say that as teenagers grow up, with heightened ability to think and act for themselves, others try to interfere for our own good. For some, this interference is welcome as we are lost. However, for most it is irksome to have someone meddle and contradict your ideas just when you finally are able to make our own decisions (well at least according to you). Therefore, when teenagers label something as such, there is practical reason. But no, it is seen as bad and the looming depression is the one blamed. This is wrong.

On the next point, what exactly are anti depressants? Something that can change our ideas, thoughts and feelings? Obviously not! They are just something that doctors linked to something that supposedly causes depression and tadah, here is anti depressants. Utter rubbish in my view.

Of course, you say that I am the one uttering rubbish. But put it this way, when teenagers in olden times grew, they were not products of depression but good people who had something in life to do. This was due to the fact they were largely left alone and were self initiative. So, they ideas and thoughts were almost never contradicted and they had a full rein on their lives with no external factor affecting them. As a result, there was no depression.

Keeping that in mind, I wish to leave you with this to ponder: “Adolescence is that time when I think, it can be- it's the cruellest place on Earth. It can really be heartless.”- Tori Amos quotes.