Why do people view Depression as an insignificant disease? People feel that they are being over dramatic. They don’t comprehend how serious the disease itself can be. The side effects that come with it are can be life altering. Nothing is being done to help those with depression because it isn’t viewed as a real disease.
Depression is a wide spread disease across America (35 to 40 million Americans are suffering from depression at some point of their life). Females experience depression 1.5 to 3 times more than males beginning in early years of adolescence (American Psychiatric Association 146 ). The symptoms of depression for older adults are memory loss, physical aches, personality changes,I nterest in sex, often alienating themselves from others, suicidal thoughts ( “Diseases and conditions: Depression major depressive disorder”). Having depression is a slippery slope which will soon lead to their demise. There are multiple factors that contribute to teenage depression. The factors that trigger suicide in teens are disciplinary issues, any factor that alters the state of mind, and the opportunity for suicide.( Harrington 37 ) Adolescents commonly feel alone and like a failure for having feeling of depression.( Harrington 31 ) Teens feel ashamed to ask for help. Up to 20% of teens now experience symptoms of depression 10 times more than in 1945. (Tyrrell and Elliott 25) The longer the adolescent is undiagnosed the more likely they will self-harm.(Harrington 36) Self harming is one of the many side effects of having depression and is very addicting.
In today’s society depression is often romanticized. “Among Tumblr 140 million blogs are created around specific topics like depression, suicide, and self-harming”.(Bine-Sophie) Social media plays a huge role in teens low self-esteem because they often feel that they can’t measure up to the typical idea of beauty .Self-harming, suicide, depression or self-loathing are viewed as beautiful, romantic, or deep.(Bine-Sophie) “There’s even music glorifying depression and suicide”.(Harrington 28) Teens use social media for 3+ hours each day and in that time frame they have access to sites that glorify suicide, depression, and other disorders.
Many different factors can contribute to having depression. The main three are genetics, stress, and chemical imbalance.(Diseases and conditions: Depression major depressive disorder”) As to chemical imbalance, there are no direct causes of it. Having a chemical imbalance increases the chances of having depression and you will have to take medication to balance out the chemicals. ( “Diseases and conditions: Depression major depressive disorder”) Up to 80% of people who suffer from suicide, suffer from a chemical imbalance as well. (Harrington 18 ) Some people who have depression can’t help but to feel depressed especially if it’s due to their genetics. Shaming someone for having depression is like shaming someone for having cancer.
Anyone is capable of having depression for example singer and songwriter Demi Lovato suffered from depression and self-harming. Self-mutilation is used as a quick fix to make the pain more bearable to live with. ( Harrington 46 ) Like a drug, self-harming can be very addicting and very hard to control . Self harmers often feel disgusted and ashamed of themselves.(“ Diseases and conditions: Depression major depressive disorder” ) They don’t view it as a problem or as an addiction, they believe they can control it. Self harming should be taken more seriously and not treated as something you should be ashamed of dealing with.