Teen depression has been a struggle in today's world. When COVID hit, we saw a significant rise in depression for people, especially teenagers. Depression in teens has always been a problem; it continually has gotten worse over the years. Some of the symptoms of depression include: headaches, stomachaches, difficulty concentrating, weight loss, and feelings of sadness and anger. Some teens can also suffer from depression because it runs in their family.

There aren’t any specific medical tests that can detect depression at the moment. Healthcare professionals determine if a teen has depression by conducting interviews and psychological tests with the teen and their family members. The severity of a teen’s depression, the risk of suicide, and possible treatments are determined based on the data collected from these assessments. Doctors also look for signs of potentially co-existing psychiatric disorders, such as anxiety or substance abuse, along with screens for complex forms of depression such as bipolar disorder or psychosis.

A lot of people view depression as a serious problem, and it is. Most people look at it like something is wrong with the person and some people don’t wanna be friends with them because they can’t handle dealing with someone who has depression. There are times when they could get a text from a friend saying they're gonna end their life because they're depressed and not everyone can handle dealing with stuff like that. During COVID, a lot of teens suffered from depression and because of that, we saw a rise in suicidal deaths during this time. The majority of suicidal deaths were teens who were stuck at home with too much time on their hands.