Saturday, November 20, 2010

Top Six Tips To Cure Teenage Depression


  By Emmanuel Heart

There are various treatments for depression. However, a treatment option depends largely on the symptoms and severity of the depression experienced by you. For instance, while some depression sufferers might benefit from medical treatments, others might only require the love and care showered by family and friends to recover. Whatever the type of depression and symptoms exhibited by you, you can benefit from any of the treatment options discussed in this article;

Medical Treatments: This practically involves the administration of an effective medication by a doctor or specialist. The doctor might prescribe antidepressant medication or recommend some other form of assistance. Medical treatment can greatly relieve depression especially when a chemical imbalance is involved. In this case, the prescribed drug restores your body chemistry to its proper balance and this will in effect help you regain a measure of joy and stability. However, the use of antidepressants usually comes with serious side effects. Hence, usage should be monitored carefully as usage might even cause suicidal thoughts. There is also the problem of addiction caused by prolonged use of antidepressants.

Social Support: Teenagers who suffer from clinical depression need all the support they can get because ignoring depression especially by significant others might be risky. In fact, untreated depression can be life threatening. Thus, many depressed teenagers have benefited from the love constant love of their family members and friends. Family and friends can help you by providing social facilitation and also prevent you from self isolation that is characteristics of depressed teenagers.

Dietary adjustments: There might also be need for you to make some necessary adjustments with what you eat. Alcohol, nicotine and caffeine are all psychoactive. Alcohol for instance is a depressant that acts on the central nervous system (CNS) slowing down its functioning. Therefore care should be taken when consuming any of this. You should also consider taking vitamin B-6 supplements every day. This is because vitamin B-6 increases serotonin levels in your body. You should also avoid skipping meals so that your body can produce the right amount of energy needed. Generally speaking, you need to eat healthy and avoid alcohol and excessive use of drugs. Some teenagers have greatly benefited from having to eat healthy as this has greatly helped improve their depressive state.

Herbal remedies: Herbal remedies unlike medical antidepressants are safer and with little or no side effects. For this reason, you might also consider this as an option in treating depression. However, the right herbal supplement should be used and care should be taken when using other drugs with herbal supplements. this is because herbal supplements usually render other medications ineffective, hence there might be need to discontinue other treatments when using herbal remedies. 

Psychotherapy: with the help of a therapist you can be thought the basic technique of bringing about a positive change in your behavior or personality. Psychotherapy will help you replace negative and depressive thoughts with more positive and uplifting ones thereby making you lead a normal healthy life that is depression free.

Exercises: Exercises are very important and is also a way of alleviating depression in teenagers. Exercises can make you active and prevent you from being withdrawn. Apart from this, physical exertion releases endorphins in your body and helps you feel positive and happier. Therefore, I suggest you choose a routine for an exercise you are comfortable with. The psychological benefits of exercises are also broad, and most studies suggest a positive relationship between physical fitness, mental achievement and general well being.



 Some of the treatment options for treating teenage depression includes, psychotherapy, exercises, herbal remedies, medical treatments, and dietary adjustments. If you don't respond to any of the treatment discused here, you might need to consider other treatment options.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Teenager Depressed? Get Help Without Having to Give Your Child Prescription Drugs

By Laura Ramirez

Drugs are not the only answer. In this article, you'll learn about some of the pros and cons of prescription drugs as well as an effective alternative program that can really help save your teen from the clutches of depression.

A parent with a depressed teenager may be at a loss for what to do. She wants more than anything to get her teen help, but she may be frightened by all the side effects of prescription drugs. So let's take a look at the positives and negatives of these medications and then we will examine natural alternatives.

Prescription drugs do work for some kids, but for other kids, they make the symptoms worse. It is this population of kids that you need to be concerned with. For instance, the antidepressant Paxil has been implicated in the suicides of a number of teens because one of the side effects is that it can increase suicidal thoughts. Obviously, this is dangerous side effect. Since we cannot cover every possible side effect of every available drug, we will talk in generalities. Other common side effects include weight gain (not a good thing for teenage girls), anxiety and a sense of impending doom.

Side effects are particular to the drug prescribed for a depressed teenager, so make sure to check with your doctor. Also, it's important to understand that for doctors, prescribing drugs is a hit-or-miss situation. If you decided to go the prescription medicine route, your teen may have to try a number of drugs until you find one that works.

Some other things you need to know are that drugs are not a cure. They do work to suppress the side effects, but if your child stops taking his meds, the symptoms will return. This is why it pays to take your child to therapy to figure out what is causing these symptoms in your teenager. Depressed teens may need a two-pronged approach in order to get better.

Finally, some of these drugs are new on the market and so the long term effects of giving a teenager antidepressants have not been studied. Since the teen is right in the middle of brain development (unused neural circuits in the brain are being discarded and new connections in the prefrontal cortex are being formed), prescription drugs may alter the course of that development.

For many parents, the risk of giving drugs to their depressed teenager outweigh the benefits, so this is why they choose to use natural alternatives instead. Here's some things you need to know about using these natural solutions.

First, look for a remedy that contains Passion Flower and St. John's Wort. These herbs work together to reduce negative thinking and promote feel-good neurotransmitters in the brain, generating a balanced mood and a positive outlook. Although these herbs have been used for hundreds of years and passed down by countless generations, they have also recently been proven effective in clinical studies. Since they have few side effects and no long term implications they are a good, natural solution for a   rel=nofollow [http://www.cure-depression-naturally.com]teenager depressed.

Obviously, the actions of a supplement are supported by healthy food. Center your teen's diet around simple, organic food like lean meat, fish, nuts, beans and fresh vegetables and fruit. The importance of this is that if your teen has been depressed for some time, his brain can use the healthy fats, phytonutrients and protein that are found in unprocessed food. Together with the supplement, this can help his brain begin to heal.

Once your teen starts feeling better, encourage him to exercise. Exercise relieves stress and rejuvenates the mind. It also stops the downward spiral of negative thinking.

So there you have it: a simple, effective program to help a depressed teenager get his life back without drugs and all their dangers. Together, a natural supplement, healthy food and regular exercise can work wonders. Sometimes the simple, practical solutions are the ones that work the best and are the healthiest in the long run.

Laura Ramirez helps others achieve health and wellness through her research. Learn more about her findings on helping a depressed teenage boy by going to [http://www.cure-depression-naturally.com]www.cure-depression-naturally.com.

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