...Teenage Depression, A Solution for Change Nkosi Brown November 3, 2014 Teenage Depression, A Solution for Change As a mother of a teenager, I can relate to the importance of addressing mental health concerns that may arise in a timely fashion. Desiring to do everything I possibly can, to provide the best quality of life for my child. There are times when mental health issues go undiagnosed due to embarrassment about the condition or a lack of knowledge about the illness that may be affecting the individual. An increased awareness and education of the warning signs and triggers of depression have aided in an earlier detection, diagnosis and treatment of depression in teens. Depression is an illness that is sometimes misunderstood. The average person without prior knowledge of the illness has a difficult time distinguishing an individual struggling with depression from someone who is merely going through a rough time or feeling down. Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary defines depression as “a mental state characterized by a pessimistic sense of inadequacy and a despondent lack of activity” (Webster’s 2000). Depression presents itself in various forms. Major, persistent depressive disorder and bipolar disorder are all types of diagnoses within the spectrum of depression. Major depression exhibits extreme symptoms, affecting an individual’s ability to function in everyday life. Traditional life functions such as sleep, school work and social interactions would be...
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...Depression is a mental health condition characterised by feeling intensely sad, low and moody for prolonged periods of time. Depression is one of the most common mental disorders experienced. If depression is not treated or dealt with correctly, it can keep people from functioning normally and affect every aspect of their life, often leading to social isolation, and in the worst case scenario, can result in suicide. According to the Australia Institute of Health and Welfare (2007), a mental disorder affects one in four young people. Of all age groups, 18-24 year olds have the highest prevalence of mental disorders and the leading cause of death in 15-24 year olds is youth suicide (ABS, 2012). In Australia in 2010, mental and behavioural disorders accounted for 12.9% of the total...
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...Prevention of Postpartum Depression There are several different viable prevention methods for postpartum depression. As with most illnesses, knowledge about the disease and risk factors can greatly aid in establishing preventative behaviors. The American Academy of Pediatrics focus on the use of repeated mental health screenings during pregnancy and postpartum to both prevent the onset of, and provide early diagnosis of maternal depression (Chaudron et. al., 2004). These screenings are not routinely administered, but when utilized, it is executed by physicians or nurses during the neonate’s 1-month, 2-month, and 4-month check-ups (Chaudron et. al., 2004). A study of the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group database of nearly 17,000 women found that women who received a psychosocial or psychological intervention after delivery were significantly less likely to develop postpartum depression compared with those receiving standard care (Dennis & Dowswell, 2013). These interventions include home visits by public health nurses or midwives, telephone support, and interpersonal therapy (Dennis & Dowswell, 2013)....
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...about my future. My family life was a mess. My parents were understandably upset with my choices. I believe that for a good portion of my pregnancy I was depressed, and I felt very isolated. Because of the stigma associated with teenage pregnancy, adolescents may also experience extreme emotional highs and lows. It's important for a teen to assess how she feels: Sad? Anxious? Embarrassed? and then acknowledge these feelings. Pregnant teens should reach out to friends and family and share their thoughts. I felt anxious that friends may not want to hang out with me once I started showing,and I should have told them. I bet many friends would have stood by me and offered support during this time. I was sad about disappointing my family, and I should have better expressed those feelings — it's important to ask for support and reassurance. And as I was worried about my future, I know how important it is to talk about your concerns with your family or a trusted adult who can help access all available health, educational, and social services. Most importantly, it's essential to read up on information about pregnancy hormones. Teens may have a hard time telling the difference between typical mood swings associated with pregnancy, and unusual, lingering symptoms of clinical depression that should be addressed by a mental health professional. Believe it or...
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...In recent years the issue of teenage pregnancies has become an important topic of conversation for many people whether in formal or informal settings. This is due to the fact of the social, economic and health consequences associated with teenage pregnancies, with that being said this paper going to further explore these consequences. Teenage pregnancies for one is associated with less schooling, lower income, increased poverty and dependency. It is well proven that more education is associated with long-term improvements in economic performance and teenage pregnancies act as a barrier to these improvements. Because of the time and energy that raising children to require, which intrudes with the time and energy required to study and go to classes, women who have a child during the school years often drop out before they can complete their education. This is especially the case for...
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...Related Literature and Studies This chapter presents the related literature and studies about the factors affecting teenage pregnancy. Implications of these related articles and topics were used in the conduct of this study that aimed to describe the theoretical basis of the study being undertaken. A. PERSONAL FACTORS Positive family interaction According to Perez (2010) even though family relationships are important, family communication is especially important because it gives the foundation in a teenager’s life and relationships. Without the strong communication dialogue between family members, teenagers are more likely to make unhealthy choices with their life and relationships. In general, people find it difficult to communicate and understand what is happening in the world around them. Not having communication dialogue between family members is disruptive to the family’s environment and structure. It is especially destructive to an individual’s life because without communication, the individual is left with no support and clarity of his/ her social surroundings. The field of communication offers knowledge and understanding between family members and individuals. Family communication is the foundation that strengthens family interaction. Lack of communication affects behaviors and attitudes. Young people who reported feeling a lack of parental warmth, love, or caring were also more likely to report emotional distress, lower self-esteem, school problems...
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...The Effects of Teenage Relationships Different relationships affect teenagers in various ways. Friends impact teenagers almost the same amount as their parents. Teenagers go to their friends for help or to ask questions that they could not ask their parents about. Most of the time their friends give them good advice but then there is the down side when they put pressure on their friends to do something like to smoke, drink, and do drugs. In most cases they tell their friends how to dress and act when around certain people. Love relationships just make it even harder for a teenager to get a good education. Some start to fail in school because they are hanging out with their boyfriend or girlfriend instead of doing their work. Throughout adolescence, teenagers are positively and negatively impacted by several relationships such as friends, family, and love relationships. Friends have a big influence on teenagers because they can say and do many of things to teenagers who think they were friends. They also start rumors and take their friends girlfriend or boyfriend and have them cheat on their friend. Some go out to drink, smoke, or to do drugs just to have fun but some think of driving home and most teenagers do not even make it to their driveways. Some teenagers who are so depressed about their social problems even think about committing suicide. Most start to hurt others turn into “goth’s” by dressing in all black. Many of depressed people show how they feel by dressing differently...
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...Pietrobelli, 2005) Weight prejudice is rampant in the health care, according to Puhl 2009, there is no antidiscrimination laws against weight discrimination. The common thought that obese patients did that to themselves triggers negative attitudes, societal stigma and/or unfair treatment of the overweight or obese patient. Obesity is prevalent in our society with 30% of the adult population considered obese. Within that population, teenagers are even more vulnerable than adults and can be more deeply affected by compromised preventative care, whether because of themselves or society (Puhl, 2009). According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2011), among U.S. high school students * 12% are obese. * 29% drink at least one soda a day. * 23% do not have 60 minutes of physical activity on any day during the survey. * 67% did not attend PE classes daily when they were in school. * 33% watched television three or more hours per day on an average school day. * 25% used computers three or more hours per day on an average school day. Because body fat levels change as children grow and mature, doctors use gender-specific BMI-for-age charts to identify overweight boys and girls. Children and teens with a BMI-for-age above the 95th percentile are more likely to be at risk for cardiovascular disease and to become overweight adults (“Overweight American face serious health risks.” 2002). The obese teenager population is increasing and as health care providers...
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...The challenge of working with young people relating to promoting positive sexual health Teenage pregnancies and early parenthood have been recognised to be associated with poor health and social exclusion. There have been debates on whether teen mothers and their children are the consequences of the teen mother’s age or socially disadvantaged circumstances Sexual health is a subject that’s affects many counries, especially when young people are being infected with STIs, it a subject of amusement, fear, embarrassment and complexity. unplanned pregnancies that will force most young girls out of school and being lone parents or which is a burden to health services and the economy, most of these young women end-up having more than one child, living in poverty relying on state hand-outs and most of them end up being unemployed and creating other generations of deprived children, some prostitute themselves to support themselves and their children resulting in them getting sexually transmitted infections such the ones mentioned above. The cases of young people is worrying the governments, local authorities and even families because the of the age these young people are experiencing their first sexual intercourse are getting younger despite the fact that in great Britain the age to consent sex is 16 years, young people as young as 11 year are sexually active, example of this is the case of Alffie an 11 year old year boy who believed to have fathered a15year old school’s child...
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...of Unwed Mothers Is Teen Pregnancy the Problem? Institute for American Values This report comes from the Marriage Project of the Institute for American Values. Maggie Gallagher, the principal investigator, is an affiliate scholar at the Institute and the director of its Marriage Project. The Institute is grateful to Amara Bachu, Douglas J. Besharov, Norval Glenn, Dana Mack, Steven L. Nock, and Maris Vinovskis for their scholarly and editorial suggestions, and to the William H. Donner Foundation for its generous financial support of this initiative. The contributions of other supporters are also greatly appreciated. On the cover: Maternity (1950) by Milton Avery. Oil on canvas, 32 X 46 inches. Collection of Sally M. Avery. ©1999, Milton Avery Trust/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, NY. © 1999, Institute for American Values. All rights reserved. No reproduction of the materials contained herein is permitted without the written permission of the Institute for American Values. ISBN 0-9659841-5-X Institute for American Values 1841 Broadway, Suite 211 New York, NY 10023 Tel: (212) 246-3942 Fax: (212) 541-6665 info@americanvalues.org www.americanvalues.org The Age of Unwed Mothers Is Teen Pregnancy the Problem? Executive Summary Why have three decades of intensive national effort to reduce teen pregnancy not been more successful? Largely because for three decades, we have framed the problem falsely. What we have called our “teen pregnancy” crisis is not...
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...Professor Tobin Hart Adolescent Depression Experts estimate that 5% of all teenagers will suffer from depression. Unfortunately, only 20% of depressed teens are appropriately diagnosed and treated. It is a disorder that disturbs their mood, causes a loss of interest or pleasure in activities they should enjoy and makes them irritable to almost any aspect of life. It is very difficult to diagnose depression among teens because of the normal sporadic mood swings that are included in the teenage years; nevertheless, persistent unhappiness or moodiness is not normal in anyone. Therefore there are many key factors in looking for depression among teens. There are multiple things correlated with depression among adolescents. Some examples include the normal process of maturing and the stress that occurs with it, influence of sex hormones, conflicts with parents, and the death of a friend or relative. Also teens who are most likely to become depressed when they experience stressful events have a factor of low self-esteem , are very critical of themselves and have feelings that they have little or no control over negative events (T. Rogge & D. Zieve (Eds.), 2012). In this paper, I will investigate the numerous symptoms and signs of depression among teens, the treatments taken to cope with depression, and the prevention and consequences of depression in adolescents. It is hypothesized that female adolescents will display higher levels of depression related symptoms and behaviors...
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...reminders that she gave to her and much needed motivation. Mrs. Loreta Merza for the help and inspiration he extended. All English Department, faculty members and Staff. The section of Four Hope 2012-2013 for assisting in the collection of the topics for the chapters. Most especially to my family and friends and to God, who made all things possible and make me confident to this. TABLE OF CONTENTS * ACKNOWLEDGEMENT * CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A.) Statement of the problem B.) Importance of the study C.) Scope and limitation D.) Definition of terms * CHAPTER II DISCUSSION A.) How does depression increase the risk for suicide? B.) Why do men commit suicide more often than women do? C.) How do alcohol and other drug abuse increase the risk for suicide? D.) How suicide goes from ideas to action? E.) How to prevent suicide? * CHAPTER III SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION BIBLIOGRAPHY CHAPTER I Introduction:...
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...Something I have learned as a teenage girl is how to walk in places that I do not feel safe in. From downtown Minneapolis to parks in my suburban neighborhood it always feeling important to keep my head up, stand with confidence and avoid eye contact with anyone who makes me uncomfortable. I avoid any side comments directed at you, and most importantly, I hide my fear. I have dealt with this many times, as have many other girls around my age. Many of us develop a rather keen sense of possible danger and it’s something that hangs over us like a cloud. Despite how much you want to yell at these men and explain to them that you are more than just an object, you can’t. You can’t because you need to be safe, and in effect, they will never be told...
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...Have you ever had a headache before? If so then you’re probably familiar with the pounding pain that wouldn’t go away. As I write this, the pounding sensation on the right side of my brain is undeniable. It has been there for almost two years and has remained twenty- four hours a day, seven days a week. Chronic migraines have an impact on every aspect of life. So you are probably wondering how this neurological disorder came about? Well I still don’t have an answer as to how it happened myself. It all occurred one evening in November on my way home from work. My vision rapidly began to blur until things were no longer visible in my right eye. Accompanying the vision was a sharp stabbing pain in my eye, which ran across the section of my right brain. I called my parents and was rushed to the emergency room. When I arrived they rushed me down to testing where they ran a CT which later returned normal. After testing returned normal they went through a medical history, gave me a shot of dilaudid, and sent me on my way home. I was hoping that would be the last time I would experience that pain and the last trip to the emergency room. Unfortunately, the pain continued for a week or two, along with the blurred vision. I decided to see my doctor, who sent me to an ophthalmologist, who then sent me to a neurologist. My pain continued to increase and I remained in a dark room, in bed a lot of the time. The ophthalmologist ran tests on my eyes and found decreased vision in my right...
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...Introduction: Prostitution is one of the most widely neglected but complex vices of a society. It is the oldest profession in the world. The word prostitution began to come into common usage in the late eighteen century. Prostitution is historically and culturally ubiquitous with every culture adopting their own standards and attitudes. In the ancient world most purveyors of sexuality for economic reward were courtesans, concubines (kept mistresses) or slaves. Courtesans and concubines often had a high position in the traditional society. But in modern society this profession is being neglected and various social problems are occurred from it. One of the most serious problems is associated with the prostitution is the fact that the sex trade is surrounded by illegal, abusive and dangerous activities. One view maintains that such situations occur because prostitution is kept illegal and the industry operates on the back market. Besides these prostitutes are also sufferings in society. They have no status. Even their client also hates them. Prostitution: The word “prostitute” or more frequently “whore” is used as an insult towards a person (typically a women or girl) who is perceived as being sexually promiscuous (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prostitute). Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual service to another person in return for payment. People who execute such activities are called Prostitutes. According to Anthony Giddens, Prostitution can...
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