Teen Depression Support Session (13/06/2020)

This was the twelfth 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 Responsibilities, 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! What is your image of being happy?

---- Being surrounded by family and friends

---- I think of being able to feel joy while surrounded by loved ones and people. Happiness could come in different forms, but being able to feel this joy is the point of happiness to me

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?

---- Answers ranged from 1-10; majority around 6

---- Im an evil 7

---- Why not go with a 10?

3. Alright, before we start discussing todays topic, lets clear up what it is about! How would you define the term responsibility?

---- *googles* the state or fact of having a duty to deal with something or of having control over someone

---- Making a commitment and sticking to it. Sometimes just taking ownership as well

---- I think of responsibility as having a certain position or duty or commitment or whatever to deal with

4. What kinds of things would you consider a responsibility?

---- "All the boring oldie matters like school/work taking care of siblings, housework..."

---- "Having a position to stick to, like for example, my responsibility as a listener is to listen to people, support them, behave well, follow the chatroom rules, and the terms & conditions, etc."

---- "Mental health"

---- "Responsibility...ah, well, something that must be fulfilled, maybe like a duty, or commitment?"

5. Does your depression hinder your ability to take care of responsibilities in life? If so, how much?

---- "Depression makes the simplest tasks hard to do. Sometimes it's hard to just get out of bed"

---- "Yes, it does hinder our abilities to take care of those responsibilities. Depression could be exhausting and draining, and when you dont have the energy to take care of those responsibilities that means that it became a hindrance"

---- "It does, most of the time when depression hits one has to force themselves even to do daily routines"

---- "I no longer suffer from depression thankfully I was able to get help but when I suffered, I wouldn't be able to concentrate on homework, in class and I was late because I didn't want to get out of bed"

---- "Depression can make it difficult to take care of our responsibilities due to the sadness"

6. How does having responsibilities affect your depression? How does the pressure of responsibilities make you feel?

---- "It makes everything unbearable and 10x stressful than it actually is. I always feel drained and physically exhausted, it could also make my insomnia worse"

---- "It makes me feel overwhelmed and like I can't focus on anything and work just keeps piling up and I feel like hiding on cups 👀👀"

---- "This is where my anxiety comes into place. I worry about a lot yet I didn't care enough due to depression to do anything about it. Very frustrating having to worry so much yet not have any energy to do my responsibilities in life"

---- "I get so stressed but I can't do the stuff that I have to become I can't concentrate and am just generally down but procrastinating makes me more stressed and then I get overwhelmed, it's a vicious cycle"

---- "It adds frustration and too much stress and it's often hard to manage all those together, slipping into negative coping skills when lots of pressure hits, falling into a cycle"

7. Thinking about self-care for a moment: Self-care is the practice of prioritising your own well-being, by doing things that you love doing, that you know will make you feel good or feel better about yourself. Does your depression hinder your self-care responsibilities? If not, how do you think it could, and if so, how much does it affect them?

---- "It does. Things that I usually love doing don't seem so interesting anymore"

---- "It definitely does! It affects our ability to self-care in two ways. Firstly, we dont recognise the need for self-care. When were depressed, were in this negative mindset. And self-care is the last thing on our minds. Also, we dont have the energy. Nor the interest in any self-care activities"

---- "Oh yesss!! My depression makes me want to stay in bed all day while I should be on my daily long walk or being productive somehow. It is just demotivating"

---- "It does. I just feel so drained even to get out of bed and often a high chance to avoid most of the self-care activities"

---- "Yes. Depression made me not care so I didn't care about taking care of myself like I'd stay in my pajamas all day and night and not doing the things I love to do"

8. We all have responsibilities in our relationships with others, may it be as parents, as friends, as children or as co-workers. How does your depression affect your ability to care about and take care of others?

---- "So so so much. Its so hard to even receive help, care, and support, much less have the ability to give back."

---- "Actually, for me, it's the opposite I put others in front of my needs 👀👀"

---- "Think of it this way, depression is this huge rock youre carrying everywhere, no matter what situation youre in you will always think first of how exhausting carrying this rock is. So yeah, it definitely does make it harder to care for others or find the energy to help them. And in most cases, it results in breaking some of our relationships with others"

---- "I was (and still am) a super closed person and when those who noticed a change in behaviour tried to get me to open up, I would say I'm fine and they knew I was lying. I also would care so much about others and would try to help them feel better and put them before myself"

9. Some people that work or study full time, also suffer from depression. How could having that responsibility affect someone in depression? Do you have any personal experiences that you want to share?

---- "Never putting in your full and best effort into things. My grades weren't very good when I was a student because I would only do what I thought was passing grades and wouldn't put a whole lot of effort into my essay. Sort of just wrote garbage in hopes that it was good enough to pass"

---- "Having responsibilities can definitely affect a depressed person. Its like someone having a broken leg but being forced to compete in track. It makes no sense, is totally unfair, and very unhealthy"

---- "Yep, haha, depression did affect the productive time a lot! Had classes for like 12 hrs daily, would sit, but feels so drained, and not able to follow after reaching back! Grades start to drop, everything falls into a cycle"

---- "This is a very good question. I personally suffered from this, I had a lot of schoolwork, extra studies and matters to take care of, and I also had the basketball team and to manage training. I used to dread the start of each day, knowing that I would be having all of this work to do. My depression made it 10x harder to wake up every day. And my grades started dropping"

10. Sometimes we need help to be able to fulfil our responsibilities, especially when we are not well. Who helps you with being able to do the things you have to do? And if there is no one in your life right now, what kinds of things do you want to have help with?

---- "Ive got a friend who reminds me to eat sometimes since I usually have no energy to chew or feel proper food cravings"

---- "Me wants help with sleeping and school and someone making me food 👀👀"

---- "I honestly don't have anyone. My mum calls me lazy and irresponsible and that just puts a whole lot of pressure and guilt"

---- "I was a teacher's pet, haha and so I confided in 2 of them and 1 introduced me to the vice principal who used to be a counsellor and they helped me so much. They helped me keep my grades up and though my depression."

---- "I also made really good friends with some ppl on this app and can turn to them if I ever needed to vent or rant to someone as well."

11. 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? If you weren't here in the beginning, how're you doing now?

---- Answers ranged from 2-8; majority around 7

---- "I think its safe to say, I feel 8"

---- "Im still an evil 7 😈"

---- "I wasnt here in the beginning but I'd say I was a 7 when I entered and now an 8"

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