Hello! There is a difference between teen angst & mental problems!

Oh no.. actually Im saying that you are doing the right thing by ALSO acknowledging that you have all the same Cognitive, Moral and Habitual behavior responsibilities that anyone else would have.

Maybe another example I know of is Obesity caused by Thyroid issues.
(I knew a woman with this)
It is said she has a chemical imbalance which causes her to gain and keep weight on her body.
Ok,
But she will be the first to tell you that she ALSO has to maintain good eating habits,
Choose food correctly,
Exercise and sleep properly etc.
IN fact.. she must be MORE vigilant and more responsible than others could get away with.

So if you are accepting you have a 'chemical imbalance' in your brain that causes you to experience depression.
ok.
You STILL have all the reason and more to vigourously keep your cognitive thinking, optomism, unrealistic expectations as well as your eating, exercising and sleeping habits.
Not to mention Meditation and reviewing moral choices you are making or thinking about.

But to me it sounds like you are doing the right thing.
Too many people will say:
"Oh well I am obese because of a thyroid condition and take meds... so its not because Im eating KFC, sitting all day and choosing cookies instead of salad"

 

I didn't read all of the replies, but I wanted to say that I feel the same way, only different. I think now a days a lot of teenagers (including myself a few years back) are diagnosed with things they don't have. They're just having problems coping with life and being a teenager. I wish I hadn't been put on all the different meds I was put on when I was younger, I think they really messed me up. At the time, it seemed to make things better, but how much better can you be when you're emotionless for 3 years when you're a teenager? I have a lot of problems with my emotions now, but I think most of it stemmed from my emotions pretty much being 'shut off' for 3 years. The only reason I quit my meds is because I thought I was pregnant. Turned out I wasn't, but I got pregnant a month later. I haven't been on meds since, and for the most part, I think I do much better.

Sorry, that was quite a bit of rambling. I just don't think every kid that 'might' have problems actually does. I think quite a bit of it is teen angst, and doctors just love throwing meds at kids and diagnosing them with shit. (I was diagnosed bipolar, but I don't actually think I am. I think I just have mood swings when I was younger, because I was a teenager and my hormones were going crazy. Though that is not the case with every teen.)

 

You are right there is a lot that is just normal teen anxiety. It bothers me a lot that physicians prescribe drugs when they don't know a lot about psychological problems and then don't advise their patients to see someone to help them. There are few disorders that meds can eliminate. Bipolar is not one of them, meds can help but therapy is need also and therapy and weed out a bad diagnosis. It takes more than one or too meetings to determine the problem. Most Dr's prescribe meds on the first meeting and that can be really bad especially if they are really wrong. For an example giving a person depression meds who is bipolar is horrible it will make things for the patient a lot worse.



That is why before I said that anxiety is normal in teens even if on occasion it make you feel sick. That is normal because during teens years everything changes you start seeing the world differently and you are able to understand the problems in the world. Some teens deal with it better than others, but as longs as it is not causing any problems in your activities, school, relationships it is normal. I will repeat what I said before; seek help if the anxiety and stress keep you from doing things.

 

I did need help. I went through years of meds and years of therapy, and quite a few hospital visits, too. I'm just saying I think they should have done the therapy and such without the meds to see how that helped first. At least with me.

Meh, nothing you can do to change the past.

 

I agree with you about trying therapy before medication. However, I believe that this should be practiced for all ages. Medication is a life time commitment. You should always be sure that there isn't another way to help yourself.

 

When a good psychiatrist is trying to make a diagnosis for you, no matter what age you are they run a series of tests. Including a urine drug test, several blood tests to see if your hormones, thyroid & other things are at a normal state. They test your blood sugar level as well as the level of vitamins and protein in your body and various other things. They also usually conduct an MRI exam. If everything comes through normal, yet your state of mind is still bad, you most likely do have a problem. They may not make a correct diagnosis on the first try, but they might. I do agree with those who say that teenagers have problems in their lives that may be causing emotial or mental problems. Sometimes, if those problems are resolved, they end up alright and don't have any mental issues for the rest of their lives. Though,other times, the environment is only a factor that worsens their already existing condition. Sometimes it takes a long time for those to figure such things out.

 

Medication should never have to be a life time commitment for most disorders. Like I said before there are very few that medication is the cure.