Teen Depression Support Session (20/06/2020)

This was the thirteenth 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 Physical Health, 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. Okay, so lets start this off with an icebreaker! If you were an animal, what animal would you be, and why?

---- Human, lol

---- Id probably be a cat because Im really lazy and I love to sleep

---- A cat because I want to cause destruction and have people think I'm cute regardless

---- Camel because I like it and it's my 7 cups animal icon

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?

---- 3. I'm tired and empty and had an unpleasant dream"

---- Well am at 8, still sorting out a few creative ideas

---- Id say about a 7ish. Feeling a bit lonely in quarantine but things could be worse.

3. The body and the mind are connected. So when we are not well emotionally or mentally, even our body gets affected. What physical symptoms of depression do you experience? What physical symptoms are there?

---- Lazy, lethargic. I even feel dry skin and blank eyes

---- Physical fatigue. Nausea sometimes

4. One of the symptoms of depression is lack of energy or lack of motivation. In what way do your mental energy levels affect your ability to do physical tasks (i.e. going for a walk, cleaning, exercising etc)?

---- Lack of energy makes these routine tasks feel just so big. Even walking becomes more of a drag

---- Lack of motivation makes everything so much harder. Recently just getting out of bed or going to the bathroom has been so hard for me

---- When your mental energy levels are low most tasks seem very tiring which can put you off of doing them. Unfortunately, if its something like cleaning this means that the next day there will be even more to clean and if your energy levels are low it will become an even bigger and more tiring task.

---- Lack of energy to answer this question or talk to people

---- Talking to someone when Im really depressed seems so hard and a chore sometimes

5. Depression can have an effect on our eating habits, we might be eating less, or more, or dont have the energy to focus on healthy food options. How has depression affected your eating habits?

---- I eat nothing all day and then feel super super hungry hours later but also feel too nauseous to eat because I didn't eat anything

---- Yes for everything just started tasting bland so I stopped eating and totally lost my appetite

---- I just lose my appetite and feel weaker. Eating is only to survive for the next meal

---- Well I have an E.D. so I barely eat but when I get really depressed I crave junk food really bad but Im also nauseous because although I crave junk food I dont have an appetite and its just a mess lol

6. What does eating too little, eating too much or not eating healthily do to our bodies? Have you felt any difference in your body because of the changed eating habits depression has caused?

---- Yes your bones get weaker

---- Body feels weak, dehydrated and sucked in

---- I feel worse because Im now malnourished and it makes me feel horrible about myself and I just feel so sick

---- Also, dizziness and fainting

7. Another symptom of depression is either sleeping too much or insomnia. How do you experience that? Has your sleeping pattern changed since your depression started?

---- It goes more towards insomnia for me, and the sleep is not refreshing

---- I have insomnia (and another sleep thing unrelated to depression) I barely sleep. At one time I was sleeping 0-2 hours a night for weeks. Now Im trying to get at least 5

---- Yeah for me it's like I'm tired all the time but can't sleep at night because of my anxiety 👀

---- Yeah Im always exhausted. I just woke up (like an hour or two ago) and Im so tired but I cant sleep

---- Actually yeah, I barely sleep. I usually get like 3-4 hours of sleep which is definitely not healthy

8. What does lack of sleep do to our bodies? And what about sleeping too much, how would that affect our physical health?

---- Lack of sleep just makes me feel like ***. I dont want to do anything. I get migraines worse and nausea and my body just hates me

---- It's strange that even sleep makes us feel tired

---- Sleeping too much, well you don't get enough movement 👀 and yeah

---- Even oversleeping can make us feel the same... awful

9. Physical exercise and moving our bodies is an important part of physical self-care. How has your depression had an effect on your motivation to exercise or leaving the house?

---- Extremely negative, no motivation to do exercise or leave the house

---- I only leave the house when forced. I have no motivation to exercise because depression but my ed motivates me but if I didnt have an E.D. I wouldnt be exercising its just so hard

10. Small things can have a big impact sometimes, and taking care of our physical health can improve our depression or our symptoms. What small things do you think you can do to maintain or improve your physical health? Everything counts, there is no too small thing!

---- Deep breathing helps, as is a walk in nature

---- I deliberately try to eat healthily

---- I think for me it's music

---- Ooh yea a walk. I did that the other day

---- Yes, music helps much, just that we need to be careful of the choice of music :)

---- Shower, hugging a tree, instantly makes me feel light and calm

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?

---- I wasnt here at the beginning and Im being forced into something soooo 1

---- Like a 6

---- Probably a 3

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