“Brandon came through the door after school with a sad look on his face— again.”
His mom, Andrea, had noticed that lately he seemed to be down more than up, and he’d also mentioned something about not sleeping very well. At the dinner table, he picked at his food and seemed irritable. Andrea was concerned because she knew the signs of depression.
“What’s going on?” she asked him when they sat down to talk about his low mood.
“I don’t know,” Brandon said. “I just feel bad all the time. Even doing nice things for my friends doesn’t make me feel good anymore.”
Andrea decided to take him to the doctor—right away.
With Then the doctor asked Brandon if had a suicide plan. And Andrea was even more shocked by Brandon’s answer: “Yes, I was going to do it at my friend’s house.”
Depression is one of the most common mental and emotional health problem in the western world today. And it’s much more common in teenagers then we’d like to think. Depression among young people carries with it a heightened risk of suicidal thoughts. Please note not everyone who has depression becomes suicidal, in fact at least half of all people with depression never consider suicide.