Teenage girls deal with stress on a regular basis. They're bombarded with ideas of who they should be and what they should look like. They also have pressure to perform well in school, make friends and please their parents. Some teen girls learn how to cope with these pressures and stressors in healthy ways. But some adolescent girls that don't know how to handle those issues and develop mental health problems, such as depression.
Mood Changes
Adolescent girls go through lots of changes in their moods, especially when they're menstruating. However, teen girls who are depressed feel overwhelming sadness or irritability on a regular basis. They don't know how to cope with their feelings of sadness and become hopeless. A teen girl who's depressed might tell her therapist or friends that she cries for no reason, feels sad most of the day, gets into frequent arguments with her peers and parents and gets upset often.
Isolation
A teen girl who's suffering from depression might isolate herself from her friends and family members. She might refuse to eat dinner with her parents and talk to her friends on the phone when they call. She might stop going to cheerleading practice, lie to her friends about family obligations when they ask her to hang out and lie to her parents about not feeling well to get out of spending time with them.
Eating and Sleeping Habits
An adolescent girl who's experiencing depression will probably have noticeable changes in her sleeping and eating patterns. She might lose weight due to not eating or gain a significant amount of weight due to overeating. A teen girl who's depressed might have a hard time falling asleep or staying asleep at night, or she might refuse to get of bed and go to school. Her grades will probably suffer because of issues with concentrating and fatigue.
Suicidal Ideation
One of the most dangerous signs of teenage depression is suicidal ideation. Girls are more likely to attempt suicide, and boys are more likely to commit suicide. It's important that parents and clinicians become aware of the signs of suicidal thinking, which, according to HelpGuide, include saying goodbye, talking or writing about death, giving away prized possessions, joking about committing suicide and seeking out ways to kill oneself.
Self-Harm
Teen girls who are depressed may hurt themselves as a way to deal with their emotions. Some adolescent girls cut themselves, because they want to kill themselves. However, many do it to feel physical pain instead of emotional pain. A teen girl who is cutting herself might wear long pants and long shirts instead of tank-tops and skirts when it's warm outside to cover up the scars.
