These feelings can cause teens to lose interest in favorite activities such as sports, clubs, reading, art, etc. While it is normal for teens to outgrow some activities, the depressed teen will not replace these activities with new interests. Sometimes these deeply sad and hopeless feelings lead to thoughts of death, suicide or self-mutilation. These are signs of serious depression and must never be ignored as a passing phase.

Depression causes decreased energy and social isolation. The teen may have difficulty with motivation. You're saying "Don't they all??", aren't you? But the depressed teenager will have difficulty summoning the energy to perform the activities they enjoy, as well as the activities the parent assigns as chores. They may, for instance, not "feel like" going to the mall with their friends, not "feel like" going to the rock concert, etc. The teen may feel tired all the time because sleep disturbances are also a sign of depression. The depressed teen may be unable to get to sleep and watch TV to all hours, he/she may wake in the middle of the night and be unable to go back to sleep, or may feel the need to sleep too much.

Because depression can cause low self-esteem, teens may be overly sensitive to what they perceive as rejection or failure. They may feel as if they are insignificant and become irritable, taking out their misery on family members via verbal, emotional or physical abuse. This rage may be their way of gaining control of the life which they perceive is spiraling out of their grasp.

Depressed teenagers may present a variety of physical symptoms such as sudden weight gain or loss, nausea, aches and pains, headache, dizziness, stomachache, exhaustion, etc. As a result they may avoid social contacts, miss school, withdraw into their rooms, and have difficulty concentrating on any task. These symptoms will invariably be noticed in poor academic functioning.

Again, everyone experiences the occasional bout of sadness and may react to that emotion in any of the ways described above. However, people who suffer from depressive disorders will experience 5 or more of these symptoms together for periods lasting two or more weeks at a stretch. Some research suggests that adolescent depression can be particularly intense and as the rate of youth suicide increases there is no doubt as to the seriousness of the disorder nor to the need for early intervention and treatment.

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