Diseases Causing Adolescent Depression
Adolescent depression often co-exists with other illnesses. These illnesses may either be present before depression, is the cause of the depression, or the consequence of it. How these diseases and depression came to be connected varies from one person to another. Nonetheless, these co-existing conditions need to be diagnosed and treated.
Psychiatric Disorders
Depression is often present in anxiety related disorders. Some examples of these are Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, social phobia, and generalized anxiety disorder. PTSD is a disorder that is the result of a terrifying experience such as a violent assault, an accident, a military encounter, or a natural disaster. This is often debilitating and people afflicted with these also become depressed in the long run. “Flashbacks” or reliving the traumatic experience happens often to people with PTSD. These may happen through memories or nightmares.
Alcohol and other substance abuse may also co-exist with depression. Depressed individuals often do these things so that they can have a high self-esteem temporarily, when the drug or substance is yet on its effective state. In the U.S. population, it was found out that the co-existence of these two disorders is very common.
Psychiatric disorders are mostly caused by chemical imbalance in the brain, with the neurotransmitters either at a very high or very low level. When these neurotransmitters are very low, especially the ones causing excitement in a person, then this would lead to depression. This is why most psychiatric disorders are accompanied by depression. Also, the debilitating effects of these disorders become too much to bear for a person. The end result for this then would be worsening of the disorder together with depression.
Medical Disorders
Serious medical disorders may also co-exist with depression. Some of these disorders are stroke, heart diseases, cancer, HIV/AIDS, Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, and other diseases that have debilitating effects. Teenagers are supposed to be very active, always on the go. But these disorders hinder these teens from doing so. Instead of playing sports, they would be confined at the benches, finding contentment in just watching their peers play. These disorders also limit them so they are not allowed to go with their friends to attend parties, and other activities that may pose risks to their health. For example, if you have diabetes, then you are not allowed to eat sweets, which are often the foods served at a party. So to keep yourself from doing so, you’d better not attend the party.
Recent studies have found out that in teens who have a severe medical disorder accompanying the depression, then these teens have more severe symptoms of both the medical disorder and the depression. In addition, these teens more hard up in adapting to their present condition costing them much more in their medical bills. These two disorders, when not controlled can lead to the worsening of the other. When you get more depressed, then your medical condition will also worsen, and vice versa. Recent researches have yielded increasing evidence that when the depression is treated, this can also improve the result of treating the co-existing illness.
|
