Hello and welcome to my blog.Â
This is a topic that is more serious than my other blog posts/blogs. A depression nowadays is a really common thing under teenagers. But not talked about enough. So today I want to share 5 tips for teenagers with a depression. Not just for those who are teenagers, but also for friends and family. If you have a depression or feel like you have one. I urge you to seek out (professional) help. You are not alone in this battle and I believe you can do this.
If you like to know a bit about what an depression is, check out my post about it.
Tip 1 Talk to someone
Sometimes it seems like no one can help you. Talking about having a depression seems pointless. Especially as a teenager, you might feel frustrated with your parents or anyone in that matter. Talking to parents might be a big step. Some other suggestions are a good friend, a teacher you trust, different family member.
If you don’t want to talk to someone you know, there are hotlines, support groups. And a lot of places where you can talk anonymously.
“Asking for help is the bravest thing you can do, and the first step on your way to feeling better.”
Tip 2: Don’t isolate yourself
One of the first things a depression does is making you isolate yourself from friends and family. One of the symptoms of a depression is also losing joy in hobbies and everyday things that normally would be joyful/meaning full. Some things you can do to stop the isolation is:
- Spend time face to face with friends and family, who make you feel happy.
- Get involved in activities you (used to) enjoy. This can be anything from old sports and hobbies. But what is also a good activity is volunteer work, it is to reconnect yourself again with the world.
- Cut the time on social media. Social media is a great blessing and a curse. There are so many good things on social media. Losing yourself on social media is a temporally ease to a depression. Online is not a replacement to face to face.
Tip 3: healthy habits
Making healthy choices can influence your mood and health. Breaking a (bad) habit and creating a new one is hard. It takes some willpower to change a habit. They say it takes 3 weeks of consistently doing a new activity before it is a habit. So here is a list of some habits that can make a difference.
- Get enough sleep. Around 7 to 9 hours of sleep are needed to give yourself enough rest. I know that often with a depression one thing that can change is the sleeping habits. One of the bad habits it to sleep more during the day than during the night. This changes you ‘bodies’ clock and all the processes that happen in the human body.
- FOOD!! Having good healthy food is important. TOO much sugar, junk food can temporarily make you feel better. But in the long run, it can make you more tired. Some great simple things you can eat are fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. I Am not an expert in food, so if you want more information I suggest you visit a professional.
- Avoid alcohol and drugs. Alcohol and drugs can be used to ‘escape’ yourself from your feelings and get some sort of a boost. How temporally this might be. In the long run, those substances will make the depression worse and can increase suicidal thoughts. If you are addicted to any of those substances or you know someone with an addiction. Please seek out help, it can only improve the quality of life.
- Move around. Just a short walk already creates lots of endorphins, which makes you instantly happier. Any activity can help and just start from there to build it up.
Tip 4: Stress management
During those teenage years, you are open to a lot of stress and anxiety. That is why it goes so often hand in hand with a depression. Which I talked about in the following blog: depression-vs-anxiety-disorder
Because an anxiety disorder worsens a depression and vice versa, it is important to manage that fear and stress. This can happen through meditation, being organized and having a planning.
Tip 5: How to help
This tip is especially for those who are around depressed teenagers. I can’t give any clear instruction on what to do in specific situations. But I can give some pinpointers that can help that person who has the depression.
- Try to start a conversation.  Starting the conversation about the depression can seem scary. But you can start in a more casual subject, just some chit chat.
- It is okay if you don’t know the answer to everything. Sometimes they only need an ear to talk to. It is okay if you can’t solve all of their problems and know all the answers. Just really listening and responding in a non-judgemental way can move mountains.
- Encourage the person to get help. Going alone and get help might be a scary thing for a teenager. Suggest going with the teenager to be there as support.
- For good and for bad times. Having a depression can make someone react different, say and do things that are hurtful or strange. Once they have the help they are on the way back to themselves. But stick with the person in the meantime.
- Suicide talk is not funny. Sometimes a depressed person can joke about suicide or death in general or almost saying a goodbye in his or her way. Seek help immediately! Tell a trusted person. Even if you promised someone not to tell anyone. At this point, you need to get the teenager help and get it fast. A temporally angry teenager is better than one who walks on a thin line with death.
If you have any questions or just want to talk or share your thoughts on this blog. Just leave a comment down below. I love hearing what you think.
-Rosa-Lynn-
Blossoming of the Flower 
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