The Violent Tendencies Of Depression

Teenagers can become depressed, and all too often, people tend not to notice. After all, teenagers don't usually display the most commonly known signs of depression. For example, most people would assume that the condition would cause prolonged episodes of emotional lows, a lack of energy, and a clear inability for them to enjoy activities that they used to regularly engage in. However, depression does not always manifest in this manner for teenagers. Psychiatrists have long come to realize that the symptoms of the mood disorder in teenagers can often coincide very well with typical teen behaviors.

Sudden changes in behavior are not uncommon among teenagers, and most parents would shrug these off as normal occurrences. Teenagers are often known to have mood swings and can experience emotional highs and lows far more easily than adults. Most parents also believe that any changes to behavior should just be ignored, as it could simply be rebelliousness, or some other factor. However, the reality is that, while all of the above are considered normal events in a teenager's development, they are also symptoms of depression within the teen and young adult years. Many parents also tend to dismiss one key sign of teen depression – violent behavior – to be something normal.

Violence is considered to be closely tied to depression for teenagers, such that a previously calm teenager suddenly displaying violent behavior is taken as a serious sign by many mental health professionals. However, as with any of the other symptoms of depression manifesting during the teen years, it can easily be interpreted as a normal event. Indeed, violent behavior can be the outcrop of any number of factors that affect the average teenager's life.

According to many studies, it is often the parents who are the last to know if something is wrong with their child. The common parental tendency is not to question changes in behavior, brushing it off as effects of the changes that come with puberty. Others react in less pleasant forms and may even become aggressive, but very few would actually consider the possibility that their child might not be mentally stable.