Depression in Adolescence due to Changes in Physical Appearance.
Depression is a major problem with our adolescents and the number of incidences is growing. Teenagers go through some of the biggest changes in their lives including attending high school and being forced to deal with being little in a school again. They go through major hormonal changes while their bodies develop and grow. Their daily life is full of increased pressure from peers and parents. These are major decisions and changes that they have never experienced before. These can cause some serious repercussions. One of the reasons for depression may be physical body changes that occur during adolescence. .
There are many common changes that occur during adolescence, such as voice changes, hair growth, and bar mitzvah's. For one thing, an adolescent is in a period of development in which he/she characteristically is seeking autonomy and selfhood (Buxton, 1973). In part of this development, a child in adolescence also is gathering information on what society expects of him/her, and what he/she expects of society. Other than trying to find one's self, an adolescent is pressured into learning new sex roles, as the child moves into puberty and becomes sexually active. .
Puberty is the start of some dramatic physical changes. Puberty is the rapid physical maturation that involves hormonal and bodily changes that occur primarily during early adolescence (Santrock 1996). Physical changes by themselves are hard to deal with. The worst part about physical changes in adolescence is comparing ones self to others and the feeling of not being good enough. Adolescence is the time period for the most physical changes in body proportions, primary characteristics, and secondary sexual characteristics. These changes effect how a young adult will go though and succeed in life. Among both children and adolescents, depressive disorders confer an increased risk for illness, interpersonal and psychosocial difficulties that persist long after the depressive episode is over; in adolescents there is also an increased risk for substance abuse and suicidal behavior it one becomes depressed (Buxton, 1973).