The Rise of Depression in Teenage Girls
Depression is one of the most common health problems in the United States today. Adolescent suicide is now responsible for more deaths in youths aged fifteen to nineteen than cardiovascular disease or cancer. Despite this increased suicide rate, depression in this age group is greatly underdiagnosed and leads to serious difficulties in school, work and personal adjustment which may often continue into adulthood It affects about 17.8million people each year, almost half of these being women. Girls are more likely to become depressed twice as much as men, and much of that is due to the society girls live in today. Today's culture is based on capitilism, sexism and lookism (Pipher, 18). Also most girls are brought up to respond differently to situations then men, and are not shown how to express their anger. There also never used to be R rated movies or designer clothes, or sex or graphic violence in the media. Being shapely and healthy looking was beautiful. There was no "Playboy" or XXX movies, drugs were not in every neighborhood. Teenagers would rebel through clothes, hair, and music. Now more than ever teenage girls are in danger and our world is to blame. In order to even understand why depression is taking over t
Some depression symptoms in teenagers go unnoticed because they are different from adults. In their early adolscence studies have shown that girls IQ scores drop immensly. Typical physical symptoms of depression are headaches, stomach aches, insomnia, loss or gain of appetite, and changes in menstruation. Over the past decade a higher number of extremely intelligent girls are becoming depressed. During the teen years girls feel social pressure to put aside who they really are and display only a small portion of their gifts. And most young women with this problem think they are the only ones. Young women lose a realistic view of the universe and all that matters to them is in the hand of others (Ferber, 7). This constant pressure for perfection can consume a young girls life and develop into a depression. There is also a great unhappiness with their bodies. Most girls in the media are made to look beautiful and perfect, and magazines constantly contain articles to help girls with their "flaws". During these years development and culture put a lot of stress on girls, and so many things are happening that it is hard to sort it all out. They will strive to be fully feminine and inevitably fail because they are not pretty or popular enough (Ferber, 5). Girls w!ill destroy themselves to be accepted socially. Many will deal with depression by starving or cutting their bodies, taking pills, drinking heavily or becoming promiscous.
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