Dear Future President,

   I would like to draw your attention to a very significant matter to our society today, especially in high schools and middle schools.Teen depression.This is not just a short phase someone can recover from in a week. No, that is one misconception out of many; depression is a clinical condition in which the patient generally feels they don’t have any meaning to this world and that living is pointless.They will find a negative side to everything and anything just to prove that everything isn’t all joyous and gay like the world seems to be. Being more conscious of teen depression can prevent suicide and help those who are students focus more on their academics.

   If we can prevent one person from killing themselves for whatever reason it is, then that’s an accomplishment. We just saved one soul that could’ve been taken in that split second. Most people who have depression, that haven’t been diagnosed, have obvious symptoms like: changing subjects to the negative side, questioning and contemplating their life, zoning out in conversations, and thoughts of suicide or self-harm. These are significant signs that someone is clinically depressed and needs help. Thousands of teenagers die every year because their attempt at communication with us is unclear, thus causing us to overlook their possible symptoms of depression.These symptoms can be recognized by using the acronym ACT. This acronym simply stands for Acknowledge, Care, and Tell. Acknowledge the fact that they are going through a rough time, let them know that you care, and then tell a trusted adult about the situation. However, if these symptoms go unnoticed, suicide is the end result for that person, which is the third most common cause of death in teens next to homicide and motor vehicle accidents. While some may say that we should address the two most leading causes of death in teens, taking your own life is more detrimental on the family and people around them. Those that know the victim of suicide have to go through the rest of their life knowing that their friend or family member killed themselves and you could’ve prevented that by just talking to them.

   Having depression means that he/she only focuses on the negative parts of life and can’t escape them. While their mind is one hundred ten percent focused on this, nine times out of ten, they’re failing school and have bad conduct too. Whether they manage depression by self-harm, drinking, doing drugs, or misbehaving, they probably won’t be meeting their full potential in their academics. In 2014, eighty percent of teens in high school were depressed but hadn’t been diagnosed with it because their actions are what distracted others from noticing what was really wrong. Part of this is because students aren’t educated in depression or how to tell if someone needs help. This can easily be solved by spending a unit over depression in health classes or offering a class on depression and symptoms. One may say that if the person is falling behind in school then it’s their job to make up for it and that adding another curriculum just adds more funding that the school could use on something that’s more worthwhile. They could also argue that to treat depression you just need to take antidepressants and you’ll be fully cured, like it didn’t even exist. Wrong. That is a popular misconception made by those who haven’t experienced depression themselves. Taking antidepressants doesn’t fix your state of mind overnight to where you’ll be acing all of your classes by the next week. Depression is a long-term condition that can steal a huge part of your life that you may never be able to get back. Also, if educating more people about depression and the early signs of it can save someone from falling into that state of mind, then be my guest. Not only could you help someone get the right mindset and succeed in school, you could also prevent that person from taking their own life which I talked about previously. And that is when their journey starts in getting that other part of their life starts.

   Depression is a serious matter that needs more attention drawn to it. The more attention we bring to it, the less attempts of suicide and the more students can exceed in academics by being able to focus more on their studies and less about themselves and falling into the epidemy depression offers. We can prevent suicide and guide people out of depression if we just educate ourselves and act upon it from there. As president, I’m sure you either have children of your own or think of the U.S. citizens as your own. Would you want one of your children to tumble into a state of depression and commit suicide when you could’ve easily prevented it?

Anonymous