Wellman 1

Ruth Wellman

Professor Loudermilk

English 1201

20 January 2019

Anxiety/Depression in Teens

I have always had a strong interest in mental health, and the ways it affects different

people. The psychology behind it is really fascinating, and I feel like a lot of people do not

understand it. I first became interested in this topic around the age of 15-16. I went through a

pretty rough patch my sophomore year and dealt with both of these issues. Once I had gotten out

of the funk in the middle of my junior year, I finally realized how horrible it was. I know a lot of

people who have dealt with anxiety/depression. What is even more sad to me is that majority of

them are teenagers. There are so many depressed teenagers that don’t even show it. I have

become fairly educated on the matter after listening to close friend’s struggles.

After going through almost a year and a half of feeling awful I realized I wanted to learn

more about depression/anxiety. I want to be able to help others who are going through what I

did. Most importantly I just want to understand why majority of teenagers/people just feel sad

even when they don’t want to. It is quite fascinating, and I know there has to be a reason for a

sharp incline here in 2019. This topic really interests me too, since I still deal with anxiety. I

would love to learn why my body just randomly shuts down. The mind is so complex, and I think

it would be very beneficial for myself and my audience to understand why they are feeling so

blue. I also think my research on this topic will provide them with some ways to get help and feel

better.
 Wellman 2

I feel very strongly on this topic since I have dealt with it firsthand. It upsets me that a

great majority of the population deals with these emotions every day. I think that there are many

reasons as to why teens are facing more mental health problems at such a young age. I think that

a lot of it comes from social media and the lack of attention they receive. I believe that there are

healthy ways for teens to cope with the issues they live with. I also believe that the chemistry

behind the way the brain works cannot be simply treated with medicine. I already know that a

vast majority of the world deals with mental health issues. I also know that it can affect any age

and it is hard to treat. I do not know a whole lot on this topic so I am really interested in learning

more!

I still need to know a lot of stuff about the topic I have chosen. I have a general idea

about what teens go through, but it is more complex than that. I am hoping to learn the chemistry

of the brain and really just why the numbers of teens with depression has risen. I will find the

answers to my questions during a lot of research. I will probably find a lot of it on databases that

contain a lot of scholarly information. One of the research questions I have is: What chemicals in

the brain cause people to become depressed and anxious? Another question I have is: What

problems are teens facing nowadays that cause them to feel so down? I will build off of these

questions once I start my research, but for now those two are the ones I am curious about. I can’t

wait to learn more about this topic in the weeks to follow!