Running header: DEPRESSION: THE SOUL HUNGRY VIRUS 1

Depression: The Soul Hungry Virus

Mona Ghaeedan

Montgomery College

Author’s Note

This paper was prepared for English 101, taught by Professor Sharon Anthony.
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Depression is a common but serious mood disorder. It causes severe symptoms

that affect how you feel, think, and handle daily activities, such as sleeping, eating, or

working. Jared L., a close friend of mine, describes depression as a “soul hungry virus.”

Some people like to argue with the facts of depression symptoms, saying most of our

youth just make up the condition for attention. However, anyone who has had symptoms

of depression knows that it can take over a lifestyle just like a disease. As the years go

on, the rate of depression found in teens across the United States only seems to

increase. This being said, teens are finding different ways to self-harm, are less likely to

receive treatment of the disorder, and often resort to committing suicide.

Nowadays, it seems like every young person I meet has dealt with or is currently

dealing with the depression, many of whom self-harm often or have in the past.

Research conducted by The American Board of Family Medicine found that

“approximately 15% of teens [report] some form of self-injury” (“Self-Injury (Cutting,

Self-Harm Or Self-Mutilation),” 2019, para. 3). This means every 1-2 out of 10 teens

have self-harmed. Whether the self-harm is through substance abuse, drug abuse, or

mutilation, all are seen as escapes from the disorder of depression. Self-harm is usually

the first step suicide for teens, for they “are usually not trying to kill themselves. But they

are at higher risk of attempting suicide if they do not get help” (“Self-harm,” 2019, para.

3). There are several different reasons why a teen may self-harm, one being to “make

themselves feel something” (“Self-harm,” 2019, para. 4). A very common symptom seen

in teens suffering from depression is a sense of emptiness or numbness, so this leads

to the idea of self-harming helping them release any strong feelings.

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Regardless of whether teens self-harm or not, it is extremely difficult for teens to

receive the medical attention they need to treat depression. According to Reuters

Health News, “[M]ore than one-third of the roughly 4,600 adolescents with depression in

[a U.S.] study didn’t receive any treatment at all, and more than two-thirds didn’t get a

follow-up symptom evaluation with a specialist” (Rapaport, 2016, para. 2). This is an

enormous population of teens feeling worthless and believing that there is no cure to

their suffering. This ignorance in receiving treatment is possibly due to the responsibility

put on to the parent/guardian of the teen. Many parents/guardians actually use the

“watch-and-wait” approach when seeing symptoms of depression in their child

(Rapaport, 2016, para. 12). The “watch-and-wait” approach is when a few symptoms of

depression are apparent in a teen, but it is decided, likely by the parent of said teen,

that they will wait until the symptoms are more severe to seek for help. Dr. Megan

Moreno, an adolescent medicine expert at the University of Washington and Seattle

Children’s Research Institute, explains that the “ watch-and-wait” approach may be

“appropriate for some teens with fewer or milder symptoms,” but if a teen displays many

“severe symptoms,” it is best “to start both therapy and anti-depressant medication right

away,” (Rapaport, 2016, para. 12). In many cases, this approach fails due to the

parent’s lack of expertise on symptoms of depression. They may not understand the

actual severity of the first few symptoms or maybe as they “watch-and-wait” for the

more severe symptoms, it may become “too late” for them to seek for help for their

child.
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It becomes “too late” for someone to receive treatment for their depression when

they succeed in their plan to commit suicide. Unfortunately, suicide attempts are known

to be very common among teens suffering from depression. A study conducted “by the

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that 17.2 percent of high

school students had seriously considered suicide in the previous year, 7.4 percent had

attempted suicide one or more times, and 2.4 percent were injured during a suicide

attempt” (“Teen Suicide,” 2019, para. 7). The rate in teen suicide attempts in the U.S. is

much higher than the rate of actual teen suicide in the U.S., which in a strange way can

be seen as fortunate. There are millions of reasons why a teen will resort to suicide but

the biggest reason in the U.S. is because the teen is suffering from depression.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, about “90 percent of teens who die

by suicide have a mental health condition… [including] depression” (“Teen Suicide,”

2019, para. 6). However, if a teen feels that taking their own life is the easier route

compared to reaching for treatment, than as a country our access to treatment for teens

is weak.

Angelina A. is a good friend of mine from middle school who attempted to take

her life by overdosing on Adderall in 2018. She had been suffering from depression ever

since middle school, but learned how to cope with it over time. Her idea of coping with

depression was never in a positive way but to her, these ways took the suffering away

for the moment. For three years she suffered from alcohol abuse and she would also

self-mutilate parts of her body. One day in late March of 2018, Angelina felt that her life

did not matter anymore and taking it was easier than getting the help she needed. I
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watched my friend slowly drift off after she had chugged an extreme amount of Adderall

pills. Luckily, I had caught her in time and gotten her the medical attention needed, but I

will never forget the events that took place that day.

I have watched depression suck the soul from not only my close friends but

personally as well. Lilly Singh, a well-known public figure, says how “a big part of

depression is feeling really lonely, even if you're in a room full of a million people”. As a

society, we must do better to help our teens who suffer from this “hungry” disease find

treatment before they resort to self-harm and eventually suicide. Teens, or anyone for

that matter, should never feel like their only option to end their suffering is taking their

life.
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References:

Rapaport, L. (2016, February 1). Many depressed teens don't get needed treatment. Retrieved
December 3, 2019, from
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-adolescents-depression/many-depressed-teens-dont-
get-needed-treatment-idUSKCN0VA3H8.

Self-Harm. (2019, November 1). Retrieved December 3, 2019, from

https://medlineplus.gov/selfharm.html.

Self-injury (Cutting, Self-Harm or Self-Mutilation): Mental Health America. (2019). Retrieved

December 3, 2019, from
https://www.mhanational.org/conditions/self-injury-cutting-self-harm-or-self-mutilation.

Teen Suicide. (2019). In Gale Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection. Farmington Hills, MI:
Gale. Retrieved December 3, 2019, from
https://link-gale-com.montgomerycollege.idm.oclc.org/apps/doc/GSHTYO466907760/OVIC?u=r
ock77357&sid=OVIC&xid=c39ad2da