Depressed I guess...?!
Question: I am what some would say depressed. for the past couple years I have been very apathetic and lazy, along with gaining about 20lbs. sometimes I cant sleep at all and other times i find myself sleeping in till 2 p.m...I gave up playing sports in highschool, though I was an active kid in middle school... Ive gained a few friends here but even know I feel like I can't trust them or im holding them down, and I can never truly feel happy around them. Ive let my grades slip slowly though Im not failing, and everything feels dead to me....like im only losing everything from my old life in NY, and not gaining anything here in ***. There are times when I feel happy here but whenever im alone everything seems to come back and i can never smile or feel good about anything. I don't have suicidal notions whatsoever, but I feel like everyone can enjoy life but me. Occasionally my mother and father ask me whats wrong but I never have the strength to tell them..and my friends cant help or understand...
Answers: I am what some would say depressed. for the past couple years I have been very apathetic and lazy, along with gaining about 20lbs. sometimes I cant sleep at all and other times i find myself sleeping in till 2 p.m...I gave up playing sports in highschool, though I was an active kid in middle school... Ive gained a few friends here but even know I feel like I can't trust them or im holding them down, and I can never truly feel happy around them. Ive let my grades slip slowly though Im not failing, and everything feels dead to me....like im only losing everything from my old life in NY, and not gaining anything here in ***. There are times when I feel happy here but whenever im alone everything seems to come back and i can never smile or feel good about anything. I don't have suicidal notions whatsoever, but I feel like everyone can enjoy life but me. Occasionally my mother and father ask me whats wrong but I never have the strength to tell them..and my friends cant help or understand...
It does sound like you have major depressive disorder, a serious mental illness that you will be stuck with your entire life. It's not curable, but luckily it is treatable. However, I should also warn you that these periods of happiness could be hypomanic episodes of bipolar disorder. Being treated for MDD when you have BP can mess you up really bad. I would recommend seeing your school counselor first and then get a referral to a psychologist for a diagnosis. If you have major depressive disorder then you need to regularly see a therapist and go to a psychiatrist for medications. Take note, however, that giving antidepressants to anyone still in high school can lead to problems. Effects of meds on adolescents can be unpredictable. If medications make you suicidal then you need to discontinue them. However, you do not want to quit them cold turkey, see your psychiatrist about gradually reducing your dosage.
Nobody knows the exact cause of major depressive disorder, but there are many theories. The vast majority of depression is probably caused by an imbalance in monoamines, which are mood-related chemicals in the brain. The big three are serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine. Many medications focus on either making these chemicals have a greater or lesser effect on your brain. Usually people with depression have less monoamines in their brain and medications focus on raising them.
There is a recent theory that the presence of monoamine oxidase A(MAOA), which breaks down monoamines, is higher in certain areas in the brain for people with depression. So basically, your brain is breaking down the chemicals that make you happy. One study was done on the MAOA gene. The area specifically effected was the polymorphism in its promoter region (MAOA-uVNTR) that affects transcriptional efficiency. MAOA-uVNTR alleles associated with less transcriptional activity were related to increased symptoms of depression.
Many areas of the brain are abnormal in people with depression, although we don't know for sure whether depression causes these abnormalities or whether these abnormalities cause depression. See this website for more information:
http://www.brainexplorer.org/depression/...
Interestingly enough, your brain changes over time. DNA only determines the general makeup of your brain since the brain is way more complex than DNA. This is why identical twins will only share the same mental illness about half of the time. You inherit a predisposition to a mental illness and then based on what happens to you in your life you may or may not develop the disorder.
Medications work to change the amount of monoamines in your brain. The most common are SSRIs, which increase the effectiveness of serotonin. However, serotonin alone might not be the cause of your depression. Remember that there are three important monoamines. There are two major medications, Strattera and Edronax, that increase the effect of norepinephrines in your brain. This might also help you. Strattera is also used for ADHD. The role of dopamine in depression is not very well known at this time. Stimulants can increase the amount of dopamine in your brain, but those often make depression worse. Antipsychotics decrease it, but those are generally ineffective in treating depression. Hopefully more research well help psychiatrists treat this disorder effectively. What all this means is that you need to have a correct balance of monoamines in your brain in order to be happy. Since every medication is different and effects every person differently based on their biology you'll probably have to change your medications and dosages many times before your mood stabilizes, and there is a chance it won't stabilize perfect. The important thing is to not give up just because one medication doesn't work.
I think you are definitely depressed. You should tell your parents and go see a psychiatrist. There are so many treatments that can help! You don't need to keep suffering. Depression is an illness, not laziness or some character flaw.
I have the same thing as you..I get depressed alot too.But recently I had to get on "lexapro".I used to be an atheletic kid and all but then ever since my cousin died I felt like everyone could just live life without me..I tried to commit suicide lots of times and failed miserably..then I told my parents about it and they got very shocked but I feel alot better now that i'm on lexapro,so it's okay to tell your parents if you want..Just practice it in your room or in the mirror,it helps alot.I didn't have the courage to tell my parents until 1-3 years..