Teen Depression Support Session (06/06/2020)

This was the eleventh of a series of Saturday morning (8 am EDT) guided discussions in the Support Session Room on the teen side. Feel free to join us next week!

Todays discussion, Depression and Triggers, was attended by both members and listeners! Below is a summary of the questions as well as some of the responses (for confidentiality reasons, I chose to leave member/listener names off of the specific quotes):

1. Lets get this started with an ice-breaker! If you could learn any skill, what would you choose?

---- "Be able to be more open"

---- "I dont know"

---- "I would love to learn beat-boxing!"

---- "Cooking?"

---- "Um, I don't have skills haha I won't answer"

---- "I wanna be a dancer"

---- "I wanna be TikTok famous"

2. On a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being the worst and 10 being the best, how would you rate the way youre feeling right now? Can you explain why you feel this way right now?

---- "7.5"

---- "Feeling like an 8 for now! Starting off the day with a positive mindset!"

---- "1 because I lost a kid and want them back and flashbacks"

---- Im at a 7 right now. Mainly because I had a really busy day"

---- "I would say 5, I'm alright but I'm still not TikTok famous and that makes me kinda sad"

3. Alright, before we start discussing todays topic, lets clear up what it is about! How would you define the term ‘trigger? How would you describe it to someone who has never heard of triggers?

---- "An event or situation that reminds you of something"

---- "For me, triggers are anything that reminds you of a bad/pessimistic situation you were in, in the past."

---- A trigger is like a lil' button that when activated makes you relive/remember certain bad situations you've been in before."

---- "So I think that a trigger is something that brings back difficult memories or feelings about a past experience"

4. What kind of things can trigger depression?

---- "Abuse. Bullying. Bereavement"

---- "Hopelessness. Repetition cycles. Relapse"

---- "There are a number of factors like loneliness, conflicts, abuse, going through a grieving phase etc..it can also be genetical."

---- "It doesn't always need a trigger. But some of the things can throw us into a depressive episode can be relationship issues/breakups, a certain change in our life (new school/graduation/..), loneliness, and of course stress from either school/friends/etc."

5. Depression can be triggered by an event but it can also develop without any triggers. How has it been for you? Does your depression have a main trigger? If so, what triggered your depression?

---- "Love, bullying, insecurities"

---- "My depression was triggered by my family and their forcefulness with religion but it was also exacerbated because of my Bipolar Disorder so I suppose it was a number of factors"

---- "When I feel I cant trust and have the person I liked the most by my side"

---- "I would say my depression was triggered by the death of two close friends of mine when I was younger. It does have a trigger, however, its not always caused by that trigger. Now, waves of depression/depressive episodes occur whenever I'm feeling distressed/sad. And with BPD, I'm used to sudden waves of depression coming my way."

6. What is one thing that has helped you deal with your depression better?

---- Im struggling with a depression trigger right now. Cups helps a lot"

---- "Hm. Speaking up about it. It was so freeing. It really helped me validate myself and acknowledge that "yes. I had been through this." and the mooooosic helps too"

---- "Therapy and I know that many other people/activities helped me but the major help is always going to be therapy and medication"

---- "music is good"

---- "Kurt Cobain helped me!"

7. Sometimes small triggers can make depression worse. Are there any triggers that make your depression worse? If so, what are they?

---- "Lack of friends and school definitely made my depressive episodes worse so did sh and mental health stigma"

---- "Anxiety does it for me. And yeah... the stigma that goes around regarding mental health is disturbing"

---- "Small triggers. Injustices fuel me up so it is considered a trigger for me, stress from schoolwork, social anxiety, and constantly getting into fights with my friends, and the fear of abandonment can send me into a depressive episode by just thinking of someone leaving me even if it was just hypothetical"

---- "DID can make it hard for me tbh sometimes"

---- "Injustices make me really upset as well, thank you for bringing that up! And yeah, work and social anxiety are both stressful as heck. I know issues with abandonment can be tough"

8. What is a way to handle those triggers? What have you tried so far that has worked for you?

---- "Focusing on hobbies and people that will bring my mind off of said triggers if only for a little bit"

---- "Music has helped a lot to be honest. I'm into playing certain instruments so they serve as an outflux if that makes sense. Mediation and mindfulness work the best!"

---- "Also noting down your thoughts and categorising them as helpful/unhelpful can help you reflect onto your situation and work towards better things."

---- "I write a journal which helps with my triggers."

---- "Sometimes crying all you can helps."

---- "Handling triggers can be so hard because most of the times youre not thinking straight when youre triggered. Youre just focusing on the trigger and the thoughts/memories that are surfacing. You should take a minute, stop, breathe, and think of everything. Acting on an impulse usually makes our problems 10x harder to solve. Grounding helps, also try out new breathing exercises, try to go on long walks/practice exercising, talking to people about it and opening up, writing your thoughts down could help too, and sometimes just letting it all out and crying is a good way to channel your feelings without causing more problems."

9. Has anyone shared any ideas on how to handle triggers or things that make depression easier to manage, that you would want to try out? If so, what?

---- Im going to try to do more exercise. I stopped pretty much since quarantine and I know its healthy and good"

---- "I'd like to try journaling out! I used to do that but I stopped bc I didn't even have time to breathe because of school work."

---- "Noting down thoughts helps a lot!"

10. In the beginning, we asked you to rate how you are feeling on a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being the worst and 10 being the best. How would you rate how you are feeling now?

---- Id say 7, I'm feeling really better now but not that great"

---- "I would say an 8. Coming up on 7 Cups always help lighten my mood plus I loved the questions asked in the discussion which is another perk (and how well we deviate 😂)

P.S.: All deviations in the discussion were removed for the sake of brevity 😁

Thanks to all who participated! I hope to see you again next week. All are welcome to join -- please check the community calendar for a list of Depression Support Sessions occurring in the Support Session chatroom!!

@lavenderpeach1107 @Icicle0212