Mental health issues become more common every year. There are a few questions that arise when people bring up “mental health”. Such as:

Is it the most common in teenagers? 

And

Does the society we live in today make depression more common?

From A Teenager’s Point of View:

I first asked a teenager named Autumn what she thought was the biggest cause of teenagers feeling depressed today. She answered that sports, school, parents, and the stress of life are really hard to balance all out all at the same time.

I then asked if the society we live in now makes depression more common. In her opinion, she thought this rise in mental health issues was because of social media. Some of the examples she mentioned were body image, anxiety around keeping up with trends, and the all too common “fear of missing out.”

I asked if she thought that depression affects sleep. She answered yes, because overthinking can keep you up at night. She also said that, for her personally, “sleeping too much because you’re mentally exhausted; sleep to make the time go by.”

The last question I asked was what are parents’ most common reactions for their kids to have depression. She answered with,  “They’ll get you help, but won’t put in the help they need to do. ” She also added that sometimes the parents think their child is lying, possibly for attention, or because other people around them have that problem so they have to have it as well. 

From A Parents’ Point of View:

I next asked an anonymous parent for her opinion. I asked how she reacted when she found out her child was struggling with mental health. She said, “As a parent, having to worry about what ‘depression’ could lead to is scary.” She also said seeing your child in pain is the worst feeling a parent can have. She added that the first thing to do is to treat depression before it gets worse.

I then asked what she thought was the biggest cause for teenagers to feel depressed. She said social anxiety, trying to be the same as your peers and the people around you, and feeling like you’re not good enough.

I asked if she thought the society we live in now makes depression more common. She answered with, “Absolutely because the stressful environment is different than it was years ago, there’s just too much going on. The anxiety of keeping up with social media, and that everybody can see what you’re doing and what everybody is posting.” 

Conclusion:

The older you get, there tends to be more pressure of having to meet society’s standards. This makes depression overall more likely to manifest in teenagers. The constant stress of having to juggle sports, school, friends, and making sure your parents are proud of you, can take a toll on your mental health. Being a teenager is hard, and should be recognized to lower the standards to avoid the percentage of depression in teenagers.