Dear Editor,
I am writing to express my opinion on the serious situation of depression of teenagers due to different things in life.
First of all, why are they upset? The stress is from different sources such as the expectation of parents, teachers and the studies. Such stress directly affects their emotions. They may be unhappy as they cannot reach their parents’ expectation on their studies. There have been more than 15 cases of students committing suicide. Why? Because the stress they bore exceeded their capacity. They had to deal with a great amount of stress. They couldn’t handle it and this upset them, causing them to think they were useless, which led to the fifteen heartbroken cases of student suicide.
Moreover, teenagers may be unhappy because they are encountering much failure at once. They may feel upset because they have a bad result in a test, and also a quarrel with their parents at the same time. Most teenagers will feel unhappy because they encounter too much failure at the same time. And, to be frank, depression brought by failures could be very big. Let’s suppose a teenager, who is a fresh graduate, is starting to find a job. He used to be one of the top students in class, but he still can’t find one after many attempts. This kind of repeating failure would slowly destroy his confidence in himself and build up negative emotions.
To make teenagers feel happier, the best way is to have more communication with them. Parents or friends could be a good helper to make them feel happier. For instance, parents could talk to them every night and try to figure out what the sources of their depression are. Also, regular conversations between parents and teenagers can help parents to catch up with teenagers’ lives, which could also reduce the chance of teenagers feeling unhappy as this would make them feel that there is still someone who cares for them.
Moreover, increasing the number of times parents hanging out with teenagers could also make teenagers feel happier. A foreign research shows that the green environment of the nature can actually make people feel happier. Teenagers often tend to stay at home, where the dark environment may help build up the negative emotions inside their minds. Going out for walk or a jog with parents can indeed help them to feel happier.
To conclude, teenagers tend to feel blue as they encounter failures or stress. However, with the help of parents and the use of correct methods, I am sure that they will cheer up!
Yours faithfully,
Wong Cheuk Hei