A Depressing World with Different Obstacles

What if no matter what you did in life your biggest obstacles weren’t physical issues or boundaries but mental, and now what if I told you there is nothing you could do to get around that obstacle? Unfortunately according to Brandi Koskie this is what the case is for over 16 million people in this country. Depression is the severe feeling of despondency or dejection. Even though it may be hard to admit for some personally I can speak on this topic because I myself have faced the same problem that many others have and that mankind has a whole has been fighting for all of eternity. Some don’t know they have it as it is one of the hardest mental illness’ to diagnose because of the various reasons of the cause. You may think it only happens to people in tough times but from time and time again you hear about cases about people from Channing Tatum to J.K. Rowling being burdened by this condition. Too often this could lead to things that may in fact just make the situation at hand worse, like drugs that are meant to “help” or “lessen” the pain. A lot of times depression in low income areas can be harsher or even differ tons from the higher income areas because the cause of the coming of mental illness differs from others. Not only are there adults facing these problems because of responsibilities at work or from the debt collector but teens and young adults are at high risk and are in some cases more vulnerable to falling into a depressive state due to the pressures from various things like school or peers or even work themselves. A lot of depression isn’t pin pointed to one exact event that explains why one has it but by multiple events but the way it is portrayed and taught you would think otherwise.

Depression isn’t just always something that happens from multiple events sometimes even one thing can send you into this state and that is exactly what I went through when I first faced it. This still being pretty fresh of an experience is somewhat easier to write about. Just about three months ago everything was going great and I couldn’t ask for more. One of the most important people in my life was my grandfather who had been in great health as and was the reason i enrolled back in school amongst many other decisions I’ve made. He of quiet recent actually had a heart problem that hospitalized him. Unfortunately it wasn’t the fixable kind, he was taken two hour away from home to St.Louis where multiple open heart surgeries were done within a 2-3 day span. The reason this hurt me most is not just because I was losing my grandfather it was just how i last saw him that ruined it, hooked up to all sorts of machines, not even verbal or alert in any matter really shook me up and made me feel the saddest I have in a while. I had always seen him strong and stubborn like mule until now. I am slowly but surely recovering but through the time shortly after his passing i remember just feeling a sense of helplessness because i had to start school recently after and couldn’t do it without the main reason and support of why i was even going back. Slowly but surely I’m recovering from the event but it just goes to show even one traumatic experience can create something so devastating.

Mental health isn’t just for the poor or “weak” it affects even some of the most known and wealthiest people which just goes to show not even money cant buy you true happiness. Royalty cant even escape depression, Prince Harry spoke to “The Telegraph” and Hannah Furness corresponded in an online article the news about his struggles with his disorder after his mothers passing. It wasn’t just a short lived problem that he dealt with, it affected him for 2 decades and Harry said he “completely shut out all of his feelings and didn’t go to a therapist until he was “close to a complete breakdown” around the time of his wedding, which would normally be happy time for most. Now you may say to yourself he’s in a tough spot with tons of duties because he’s the prince of somewhere but according to Sara Altshul’s article “14 Celebrities Who Have Experienced Depression" many other stars have come out and spoke about their depression as well like Lady Gaga, Owen Wilson and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. It’s not surprising that even some of the richest go through depressive states like many others, but when being in the spotlight every time they walk out of the house to the store or family events they have the media swarmed around them trying to ask personal questions or taking pictures of their life anytime they are outdoors from afar. They can buy all the help that their wealthy salaries can buy but still have anything from anxiety, mood swings, social isolation and even major weight changes which is nothing that anyone but you can control.

A big thanks to our government and the pharmacies that can be found around just about every city in America for supplying what is seen by the doctors and patients as a solution to depression. SSRI is the acronym for the widely prescribed pill Selective serotonin retake inhibitors, it is an antidepressant which is used for Major depressive disorder and Anxiety. All though prescribed by doctors this drug often at times has severe side effects along with the use of it, one that sticks out more than the others would happen to be the risk of suicide. If you get on wikipedia it even says that in a 2004 study done by the U.S Food and Drug Administration trials show children on this drug increase “possible suicidal ideation and behavior by about 80%”. All though this study is dated and this only occurs during the first two months of taking it usually people take it after they have a stint of that behavior already, why would one want to increase their odds for two more months when they’re trying to do the opposite? SSRIs all though not addictive are proven to have bad side effects that really make one think that they should not be given to people by the government.

In "Why Today’s Teens Are More Depressed Than Ever” every 100 minutes a teen somewhere in the world takes their life away. Not only is it the third leading cause of death amongst teens but one in every five teens experience it. Sometimes substance abuse even can lead to depression if left untreated for a period of time. Alcohol if not the most commonly abused by all, very high up there, is proven to not only lead to depression on a regular but is one of the most used substances by people with depression. In todays culture things like alcohol and weed or even some of the harder drugs for the people into that, is commonly used amongst teens and young adults frequently between going to parties or just being out at a campus bar it’s seen everywhere. Even though it may seem fun and you are having a great time sometimes deep down these substances are really affecting you and a lot of these substances and negatives could be taken out of ones life if better peers were surrounding them. The Canadian Lung Association did a survey on kids from 12-17 and found the main reason that kids started smoking was because their peers did it so sometimes it really is the ones closest to you that are hurting you the most.

Teens are going through changes constantly and without the stress from their peers they cant even escape the stress at their very own homestead. Parents always say that they want whats best for their kids but their actions say the polar opposite. Majority of kids now-a-days are challenged by their parents to get a job while still keeping the academic success needed to get to a higher level of education or to maintain a good grade at the higher level and sometimes that just isn’t possible and creates more unnecessary stress that wasn’t there to begin with. Adolescents don’t need this unnecessary stress from parental roles in their lives because their home is their one place they can escape from the stress of peers and school. I can attest for this first hand, sometimes after a day of school and work all i want to come home and do is play with my puppy but i cant even do that because i have to worry about what my mother will say i haven’t done around the house yet or what money i owe next for a bill. Mental health in teens is also seen as a joke by the older generations or by peers, which depression itself has nothing funny about it. I get teens are constantly going through changes and may not act normal sometimes due to puberty but when were speaking on terms of being depressed, puberty has no correlation with this matter so it’s not fair to label teens actually going through it as just a teen or as someone who’s just “odd”. While the youth don’t have to deal with the same stresses as an adult working full time jobs would their stress comes from different sources that sometimes affect them more than others because it is the only thing going on in their life and they cant even escape those demons.