Depression and Anxiety Essay

Introduction

Depression is a mood-affective disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness, loneliness, and starting loss of interest in things. A major depressive disorder or clinical depression is that which affects feeling, thinking, and behavior and can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems. Depression causes feelings of sadness and a loss of interest in activities once enjoyed. It can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems and decrease a person’s ability to function at work and at home. Normally, depression symptoms can vary from mild to severe. Such as changes in appetite- weight loss or gain unrelated to dieting, trouble sleeping, loss of energy, increase in purposeless physical activity (e.g., Hand-wringing or pacing) or slowed movements and speech, feeling worthless or guilty. Symptoms must last at least 2 weeks for a diagnosis of depression. [1]

Depression affects approximately one in 15 adults (6.7%) in any given year and one in six people (16.6%) will be familiar with depression at some time in life. Depression can occur at any time, but on average, first appears during the late teens to mid-20s. Women are more likely than men to experience depression. Some studies show that one-third of women will experience a major depressive episode in their lifetime.[2]

Depression in adolescents is associated with several impairments but the most significant concern is the increased risk of suicide in youths with depression. Adolescence is a time for growth spurts and puberty changes. Girls also experience puberty as a sequence of events but their pubertal changes usually begin before boys of the same age. Beginning of puberty from 8 to 13 years. [3]

The teenage years bring many changes. These changes are not only physical but also mental and social. During these years, adolescents increase their ability to think abstractly and eventually make plans and set long-term goals. But due to COVID this period of their lives can be challenging even in the best times, as the majority of mental health disorders develop. Such as Depression is a mood that affects our thoughts, feelings, and daily activities, including eating sleeping, and working. Totally impact our life. Occurs in approximately 13% in the age of adolescents. [4] As we see masked faces walking alone across crowded streets, this is our current situation in which this young teen wonders if people will ever feel safe again. Depressive disorders are among the most common psychiatric diagnoses to emerge during adolescence. They can have a profound effect on key developmental tasks, such as educational achievement and social functioning. The disruption caused by adolescent depression is also known to affect health outcomes during young adulthood.

In late December 2019, Wuhan, China, reported having viral pneumonia due to an unknown microbial pathogen. A new coronavirus was subsequently identified as the pathogen and was temporarily named the 2019 new coronavirus(2019-nCoV). On January 30,2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the emergence of a new coronavirus (2019-nCoV) was a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC).[5]

Adolescents may appear to be less at risk for severe COVID-19 Symptoms, but the pandemic has significantly disrupted their lives in different ways. Social distancing and the interruption of typical school routines can be especially challenging for adolescents. Being in the house with family members and not getting to see friends and peers. Adolescents have different developmental needs.

Teenagers are at a stage in life when they are very interested in social connections and separating them from their parents. So, COVID-19 social distancing requirements have a different impact on them. Depending on age and developmental stage, some adolescents may have a hard time understanding what the pandemic really means and how it impacts their world.

“Adolescents depend on their mobile devices to connect with their friends, and it’s more important for parents to help them use screen time in a good way rather than simply limiting its use.” [6]

Consistent with previous studies, female adolescents showed a higher risk of depression and anxiety during COVID-19. Teenage is a special group of the population who have different “Psyche”. More specifically, adolescents tend to experience emotions more intensely. Now teenagers confined to their homes with 24/7 parental attention or supervision may create a great degree of irritation as they are not handling such a situation. Adolescents find it quite difficult to practice social distancing because they make sense of what’s happening in the world. they have their inherent suggestibility to follow the rumors /myths being forwarded in social media. Researchers believe that brain changes in adolescence increase a teen’s vulnerability to depression and anxiety. Play an important role in the severe gender disparity in these disorders. Nearly, one in three adolescents (31.9%) will meet the criteria for an anxiety disorder by the age of 18. [7]

Anxiety and depression are increasing

• Social, political, and environmental causes are likely implicated in an increase in the number of teens each year who have had a depressive episode, up 37% between 2005 and 2014. [8]
• High school students today have more anxiety symptoms have more anxiety symptoms and are twice as likely to see a health professional as teens in the 1980s. [9]

The fact that we can recall adolescence better than other periods and that this is a time of change in many Brains is likely to be especially plastic at this time. Another indication comes from statistics on the average age of onset of serious psychological disorders. The adolescent brain is extraordinarily sensitive to stress. [10].Researchers believe that brain changes in adolescence increase a teen’s vulnerability to depression and anxiety, and play a vital role in the severe gender disparity.

Anxiety

Anxiety is a normal and often healthy emotion. However, when a person regularly feels disproportionate levels of anxiety, it might become a medical disorder. [11] When an Individual faces potentially harmful or worrying triggers, feelings of anxiety are not only normal but necessary for survival. People of all ages are concerned about the spread of the coronavirus. Teenagers are a group that tends to experience emotions especially intensely. It is a natural and important emotion, signaling through stirring of worry, fearfulness, and alarm that danger or a sudden, threatening change is near. Sometimes anxiety becomes an exaggerated, unhealthy response. Anxiety disorders vary from teenager to teenager. Anxiety during adolescence typically centers on changes in the way the adolescent’s body looks and feels social acceptance, and conflicts about independence. When flooded with anxiety, adolescents may appear extremely shy. Sometimes, they avoid their usual activities or refuse to engage in new experiences. They may protest whenever they are apart from friends. In an attempt to diminish or deny their fears and worries, they may engage in risky behaviors, drug experimentation, or impulsive sexual behavior. Adolescents' phobic fears tend to involve school and social performance.

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More common in girls than boys, panic disorder emerges in adolescence. Feelings of intense panic may arise without any noticeable cause or they may be triggered by specific situations, in which case they are called panic attacks. A panic attack Is an abrupt episode of severe anxiety with accompanying emotional and physical symptoms.

Most research believes that a predisposition towards timidity and nervousness is inborn. If one parent is naturally anxious, there’s a chance that their child will also have anxious tendencies. At the same time, a parent’s own uneasiness is often communicated to the child compounding the child’s natural sensitivity. By the time a child reaches adolescence, his characteristic way of experiencing and relating to his world is tinged with anxiety. Some research suggests that children who are easily agitated or upset never learn to soothe themselves earlier in life.

In many cases, adolescent anxiety disorders may have begun earlier as separation anxiety, the tendency to become flooded with fear whenever separated from home from those to whom the child is attached. Adolescents can also have separation disorders. These teens may deny anxiety about separation, yet it may be reflected in their reluctance to leave home and resistance to being drawn into independent activity.

A worried teenager performs less well in school, sports, and social interactions. Too much worry can also result in a teenager’s failing to achieve his potential. A teen Experiences a great deal of anxiety maybe they overly conforming, perfectionistic, and unsure of himself/herself. Some teenagers with anxiety disorders can also develop mood disorders or eating disorders. Teenagers who experience persistent anxiety may also develop suicidal feelings or engage in self-destructive behavior.

Review of Literature

The anxiety and depression experienced by U.S. residents since the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic peaked in early April, according to a USC national tracking survey measuring the impact of the coronavirus on the lives of Americans. As Americans nationwide hunkered down during stay-at-home orders and tens of millions of workers lost their jobs,40% of U.S residents reported feeling anxious and 29% felt depressed in early April. By late May, that percentage had dropped to 27% who felt anxious and 25% who felt depressed. The survey found that one in three people said they felt lonely, up from one in five who reported feeling lonely prior to COVID-19. “Early April was a tumultuous time for many, people. Not only were we worried about the threat of COVID-19 but millions of people had just lost their jobs and families were being forced to adjust rapidly to school closure and new routines,” said Daniel Bennett, assistant professor(research) of economics at Centre for Economic and Social Research, part of the USC Dornsife college of letters, Arts and Sciences. “Since then, the pandemic caused a lot of destruction, but the changes to the daily lives of many Americans have been less extreme. [12] (Jenesse Miller, 5 June, 2020). Americans are reporting high levels of emotional distress from the coronavirus pandemic- levels that some experts warn may lead to a national mental health crisis. An estimated 10-20% of adolescents globally experience mental health conditions, yet these remain underdiagnosed and undertreated [13] Unipolar depressive disorder is a common mental health problem in adolescents worldwide.[14] with an estimated One-year prevalence of 4–5% in mid to late adolescence.[15] Depression in adolescents is a major risk factor for suicide, the second-to-third leading cause of death in this age group [16] with more than half of adolescent suicide victims reported to have a depressive disorder at the time of death.[17]

Tises the prevalence of depression in children is low (more than 1% in most studies) [18] with no sex differences, and then substantially throughout adolescence. [19] Studies have found that 3-9% of teenagers meet the criteria for depression at any one time, and at the end of adolescence, as many as 20% of teenagers report a lifetime prevalence of depression [20]

Childhood depression, like the depression of adults, can encompass a spectrum of symptoms ranging from normal responses of sadness and disappointment in stressful life events to severe impairment caused by clinical depression that may or may not include evidence of mania [21-23]. During the recent Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in China, 54% of the participants of a large online study rated the impact of the outbreak on their mental health as moderate to severe, with depressive symptoms and anxiety being the conditions most often stated. [24] The current crises impose multifaceted burdens on children. They include the socio-ecological impact of the pandemic, which is understood to be enormous. The environment of children is affected at different levels- including community and family- as well as the individual child itself. [25

Rationale of the study

Adolescents are the future of our country and they play an important role in today’s time in nation building. They have the ability to create an identity for themselves and move the nation forward. They are filled with optimism and towering ambition. Country vision lies in the hands of adolescents. To achieve these objectives, an adolescent should be mentally and psychologically fit and free from all stresses during this COVID-19 era.

In adolescent depression and anxiety is a serious mental health problem that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of attention in activities. Most of the time they are unhappy. Their mind is not conscious in one direction. In a group of people they feel lonely, not feel comfortable with their known too. When we include biological parameters that add hormone havoc to it that seems many other drastic changes happening in adolescent life, it's easy to see their moods swing like a pendulum. Due COVID lockdown has created more problems for them. Schools are closed. They are tense about their studies, and future.

They sleep excessively, staying awake at night and sleeping during the day. Change in eating habits, the normal routine is imbalance. They spend more time with their parents than their peer groups. Most of the adolescents are frustrated. All the time they check social media in case parents make some restrictions on using cell phones which affects them badly. They are in control of the parents. Normally, in adolescent age children want some space from their parents. They want to live freely. But depression and anxiety can be treated as well as the serious problems that come with it. Normally, adolescent unhappiness lasts for more than 2 weeks. After that, they display other symptoms of depression and anxiety it may be time to seek help from a health professional. There are many methods used to treat depression and anxiety, including medications and psychotherapy.

The most important way for adolescents to fight depression and anxiety such as, first make routine of everyday. I awake early in the morning. Engaging ourselves in aerobic activity. Eat healthy food and fruits. Recognizing and challenging your critical inner voice. According to the current situation make ourselves resistant. identifying our talent and working on it. Read funny and interesting novels. Watch a funny movie or show with family. Refuse to punish yourself for feeling bad. Doing activities, you once enjoyed, even when you don’t feel like it. Work on ourselves to stay connected with friends.

Reference

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