Top 5 Signs of Teenage Depression

Depression is a serious mental illness and unfortunately, not everyone understands it. Do you feel like your parents don't understand your depression? Do they tell you nothing is wrong or you are overreacting? Dealing with depression can be tough, especially if your friends and family don't understand how you feeling. Living with depression is exhausting so we recommend you seek help from a professional.

DISCLAIMER:
This is a friendly reminder that this video is for informative purposes only. It is not intended to serve as a substitute for professional mental health advice. Please seek help from a qualified mental health professional if you are struggling.

Consider sharing this video with your parents to help raise awareness and make childhood depression, not a stigma.

Writer: Anjani Tennakoon
YouTube Manager: Cindy Cheong

[Psychgo]

How was your experience like when you told your parents about having depression?

[Silc_]

Sleep is no longer sleep, it’s an escape from reality.

[chynabarbieeeeee]

I love how parents don't care about our mental health, only our grades and or how we do in school. Please put your mental health first before anything 🙏

[LPYHD]

tbh this channel is more understanding and comforting than my parents

[Artzthetransboii]

Another problem without getting therapy is the fact that, it can make you feel like your depression is invalid because you haven’t been diagnosed by a proffesional and make you think “what if I don’t? What if I’m overreacting?” And the problem with that is when you tell people, especially at school, they can make fun of you, and make you feel 10x worse.. it’s so unfair, but, that’s what happens I guess…

[MGShadow]

I'm 33 and have some of this struggle with my parents.

My dad just doesn't get it, he's still trying to get his head around the idea that depression isn't sadness.
He also doesn't understand anxiety issues, saying "what do you have to be anxious about" - showing he doesn't get it.

My mum at least empathises to some degree, but she takes it personally thinking she failed me in some way so it's hard to talk to her about it.

They never prevented me getting professional help, they just never took it seriously enough to help me get help.

[bottomline]

If your parents don't know you well enough to recognise your depression, chances are they're a good part of the reason.

[lavendertease]

I was a heavily depressed teenager. I remember picking up a pamphlet about depression at the pharmacy. My mom saw that and barked “don’t tell me you’re depressed!” 32 years old now and it still stings.

[konstantintrubitsun]

I think I've been suicidal my while life. I first brought up that topic, when I was 8, but when I told my mom about my ideations, she just replied with "do it". I felt myself so dumb. I think my ideations weren't fully formed by that time and I was just seeking attention, because around that age I used to also fake injuries, that seemed the only way to make her care about me. Few years later I had an episode when a bully was threatening to kill me and I just broke down in tears, asking him to do it. I fully realized the way I feel around 13 and until that day things were only getting worse. A few months ago I had one hell of a night, which I spent having close to none sleep and crying, I just felt like it's impossible to survive for me. I still don't know, why have I chosed life. Just before taking my own life, I suddenly felt some sudden stubbornness and anger both towards myself and people around me. Suicide for me was not only the tempted escape, but also a way to scream in agony, which is simply being alive for me, so loud, that nobody will be able to just ignore it. And so I realized that even if I did it, nothing would change. My mom would be angry and spiteful, my grandma will start some religious sheet, like speaking with every single one of her colleagues about how I betrayed god and her and about how I'm now tortured in hell. The only thing that would have change is my little brothers life, because my mom would just lay all the problems on him, like she did on me, when her marriage started to break down and she decided to fix it with kids. All the other comments are so nicely written, but mine is just a mess, that nobody will read. I just wanted to share my experience and get everything from my chest

[FancyTM]

The worst part about mine is that when my brother and sister had depression and suicidal thoughts, they got professional help. Me? Not a single, I'm listening. I've told more strangers online about it too and it feels like they understand me more than my parents do. My parents, the ones who brought me into life and promised to protect me with all their life.

[OfficialPieceOfBread]

I talked to my dad about me being depressed and wanting to talk to speak to a therapist and he just joked about it. Later on I told my mom the same thing and she said it was just a phase and that I will probably change my mind later on… As if depression was a choice!!

[NicTheNarrator]

This happens all too often. Had to experience it 1st hand myself. I got to a point where I felt like my parents didn't care about me at all and I would often talk about it with my friends online. When they found those messages they kicked me out for saying such "slander". This is precisely what a parent should NOT do, your struggles are valid and I hope that everyone here never has to go through what I'm going through right now.

[BaconBabe]

This is too relatable. I struggled a lot in my youth (got worse with time). I sat down on the couch, wrapped in blanket and crying. Told my mom I wasn’t feeling well, trying to open up. But I was dismissed with the sentence “stop, you don’t have anything to cry about. Others have it worse”. I clammed up and never spoke about my mental being from then on. It took years until she got depression herself to understand it. I’m not proud but I threw it in her face “ now you know how I’ve felt” and walked away. We worked through it, luckily, and have better talks and understands the struggle and support each other. But deep down, while I’ve more or less forgiven her, it still stings not being believed by the person you trust the most…

[worldwaide]

Teenage Me: I’m depressed and I can’t do the things I need to

Mother: “We all have to do what we don’t want to. That’s life.”

Teenage Me associating the two: Oh, so life is suffering. Then I don’t want to be a part of it.

Parents really need to watch what they say

[shyl]

It seriously hurts my heart even more to know that I'm not the only kid that feels this way. Honestly no one deserves to feel this amount of pain because to me it feels like a whole other low.

[jusklp]

I got bullied in school. From age 6 to age 16. Everyone knew what was happening. My classmates who weren't involved in the bullying got bystander syndrome, and so did the teachers. It was seldom physical; mostly the bullies made faces at me whenever I showed eagerness in class or made fun of the way I walked. (I have flat feet, and it ruined my posture and gait. My weight gain aggravated it.) My parents knew, but like my teachers and peers, I was routinely advised to "ignore them." I developed suicidal thoughts by 13 and 14, but I've never made any attempts. By then, my grades were slipping, but my parents chalked it up to my lack of focus, having a one-track mind. My teenage years were hell. I was irritable, and my mother hated big emotions in general. She hated seeing anyone upset; but instead of tackling the problem with me, she only ever scolded me for as little as a frown. If I cried, she scolded me for being upset. Even when I was a child, she never handled my anger well, not any better than her own. I might have brought up twice when I was 17 and/or 19 that I wanted to get treated for depression. My mother told me that it's something that anyone could handle on their own. (My parents stance on this never changed.) I did eventually learn to self-regulate, but I did it mostly on my own. It took a long time, but my frequent bouts of rage died out when I was 27. My parents and I don't fight anymore, mostly because there aren't any conflicts anymore either, now that I'm an adult. I still get moments where my temper flares up over little things, and my mother's idea of helping me is implicitly telling me that my problems are small and that I'm not handling them well. I don't have any friends. My boyfriend has similar problems as me, and it's hard to confide in him because venting to him triggers him. Every fight always seems to be my fault, and I always had to be the one to apologize. No one is ever on my side. I feel alone a lot. Earlier this year, I brought up some of my experiences in school, and to my shock, my parents don't seem to remember that I was bullied. They claimed that I never told them. I was pretty sure I did. And even if I didn't, I wrote it on my diary, which I'm sure my mother sneaked a peek at. There's no way they didn't know.

[Everyday_Awes]

I'm 36 and I've had depression all my life, which did come as a shock because I've never thought of me being depressed. But turns out, I've been sick since being a kid. My parents did not have the slightest hint that being physically abusive is not the right way to go when it came to punishments for doing bad things. I've started treating myself and the feeling of complete detachment with alcohol when I was 12 and got addicted. I solo wanted to feel I'm someone or that I belong somewhere because no one ever could pick up on the fact that there was something off about me. Now, when I came out to my parents as being addicted and depressed, apart from a moment of shock went into silent denial. Months after that they still didn't do any homework to try to understand their child. Honestly, I'm very angry with them. I don't really care for their reasons because I am still hurting due to their indifference. They have a successful other child my older sister with a husband and a daughter while I'm the depressed alcoholic getting a divorce. There is no moral to my story. There is no lesson here. I just wanted to share how powerful the relationship with your parents can be and what kind of impact it may have and how it resonates throughout life. Professional help is NEVER a bad idea and there's ALWAYS a good time to start getting help. Even, and especially, if it's only for yourself to help better understand that the hell happened in your life and how to prevent that from happening in the future with (if that's your cup of tea) the next generation.

[ENFPSIS]

I was having a hard time during Middle School. I experienced a lot of anxiety, and a bit of depression. I was grieving for personal reasons and they just dismissed my pain. And since that happened I gained a sense of understanding that " You need to get over your pain because it's stupid and you don't need to be crying over ridiculous things. "
It's hard to open up especially as teens. After grieving effects of it still stayed with me, and it affected me. I was in a bad state, and I felt unseen, and since grief, things haven't been the same. Sure, they went back to normal and I was able to cope a little better. But I still experience isolation. Barely being productive. Thank you for this informational video.

[gukkiebae]

I am still in my teenage life...
I have tried bringing this topic to my parents but it always ended up being a life lesson for me or even worse they say that I'm just acting so at some point I stopped talking to them about it and I'm currently acting in front of them like I'm the happiest child in the world but only my pillow would know how many tears have been out from my body in this past 1 year...
But I really hope others' situation is not like mine and really hope that they can cure their mental health problem, unlike mine... So please leave ur grades aside and put ur mental health first...

[fandomwriter]

My mom and dad have acknowledged that I have depression but they don’t always handle it the best.
Whenever I was dealing with suicidal thoughts, they grew angry. Especially my mom. She called me ungrateful and many other awful things despite the fact that she had been through the same thing from *her* mother.
When I tried to attempt on my life, I never heard the end of it since. I have since then made steps to *never* go down that path ever again. But my mom is seemingly convinced that I am only a second away from trying again.
I only pray I can someday leave from the toxicity of my family