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End of an Age

Her smile is hidden,

Her laugh is non-existent

Her happiness is gone

Her world is all wrong

 

She lives day by day

Shutting the world out

Thinking that no one cares

Her heart being ripped out

 

Every night she goes home

Hoping it would all end

The voices inside her head

The scars covering her body

 

She runs to the bathroom

Searching through the cabinet

Looking for the bottle

The bottle that holds her future

 

Tears so salty

Her vision is blurry

She finds what she’s looking for

She knows she’s already dying

 

She runs to her room

Closing the door

She takes out the pills

Wishing there were more

 

She shuts her lifeless eyes

To escape the world in front of her

She can’t find the words to speak

But only a pen and paper

 

She says she’s sorry

She can’t live like this anymore

She knows you’ll be sad

But please don’t mourn

 

A note in her hand

Her future is no longer planned

Pills cover her palm

Her life is a ticking time bomb                                                     tick, tick, tick

 

Her mother and sister come home first

Continuously calling her name

They don’t hear a response

They assume she’s just with friends                                          ...never assume

 

Her dad comes home next

Going straight to the shower

Not stopping to check

On his poor dead daughter

 

Her sister then comes up

Looking for some crayons

She opens the door

Screams erupt from her lungs

 

Her parents rush in

They see her lifeless body

And hurry to her side

Looking for the pulse

The one they won’t find

 

Her mom finds the note

She had no idea

That her daughter, so young

Had so many fears

 

They knew she was distant

They thought it was a stage

But they didn’t know

It was the end of her age

 

a.k.s

 

 

 

Hola Sun News

Early College High School

2050 Hwy. 501 E.

Conway, SC 29526

September 19, 2013

Letter to the Editor

The Sun News
P.O. Box 406
Myrtle Beach, SC 29578

 

Dear Editor in Chief:

My name is Amber Shaffer. I am a sophomore at Early College High School in Conway.

Depression is an illness that is taken lightly. It affects millions of teenagers daily. People treat it as though it is a “teenage” phase. Unfortunately, it is not just a phase and can lead to more serious conditions. Many people do not believe that adolescent depression is serious.

Depression causes many self-esteem issues for young men and, more commonly, young women. More times than none, this leads to serious problems such as mental health issues, poor health, and death. People do not realize the affect that this illness has on the human brain, especially at such a young age. Having so many corrupt thoughts going through your mind at a time when you believe everything is wrong about you is not healthy and can lead to lifelong effects. Would you want to have barbarous thoughts circling in your mind?

I appreciate your help and hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,

Amber Shaffer

Therapy??

Amber Shaffer

Ms. McKoy

English 2

02 September 2013

Therapy for the Depressed

"Does my child need therapy?" "Are they just saying these things for attention?" "Oh, they can get over it on their own. Everyone gets depressed at some point." These are just some of the thoughts that go through a parents head when their child claims that they are depressed. Well what about the child? Shouldn't you ask for their opinion? I wondered the same thing when I was diagnosed with depression. My depression wasn't even "normal" though. I was diagnosed with clinical depression. So, shouldn't I be in therapy? My parents talked about it, but I've never been. I believe that, for most people, it could make a tremendous difference being able to talk to someone outside of your comfort zone. It may even save their life.

There are many forms of both depression and therapy. For depression you have clinical, suicidal, manic, and chronic. While with therapy you can go to a psychiatrist, go shopping, exercise, resort to eating, basically anything that makes you happy. According to the article "Dealing with Depression", symptoms of depression include sadness, irritability, fatigue, pessimism, disturbed sleep patterns, changed eating habits, and social withdrawal (Kist). This means that bystanders close to the patient can usually tell if they are depressed or not if they look close enough. Also stated in the article by Dr. Douglas G. Jacobs, a Harvard psychiatrist who set up mental health centers for free screenings across the country, "Seventy percent were ill and needed some kind of treatment. I estimate we have saved about 7,000 lives" (Kist). Of the 200,000 people that were screened, that seventy percent most likely did not think they would ever get help (Kist). The article states that "Treatment with medication, psychotherapy (counseling), or a combination of both is successful in 80 percent of all cases of depression" (Kist). Since depression is a result of the imbalance in the brain of certain chemicals called neurotransmitters, the medication can help those chemicals become more balanced and start the road to recovery.

As I said before, I have depression but I have never been to therapy. Thankfully, I have a strong circle of people I can trust that I can talk to. I often go to my older brother or my best friend to talk things through with. Out of those two, only my brother also has depression. It is nice to have someone who doesn't feel the same way as I do's opinion. Many of the people that know about my depression ask how long I've had it or how it started but I don't think I can give an exact answer to either of those. I knew I was sad for a while and I knew I had a lot of unresolved issues but, usually, I just kept them bottled up. Until a few months ago, I was completely apprehensive about the idea of "therapy". I assumed that I could just keep things bottled up and I would be fine going through daily tasks. I even cringed when my doctor recommended a couple of different therapists. Now that I look back, I know I was being foolish. Therapy is not something to be ashamed of and if your parents think you should go, you should. They are the ones that know what is best for you.

I would like to continue researching on the opinions of others as to if they think a parent should take their child to therapy. Therapy can have a positive effect on the patient. I also want to get a doctors opinion on my theory. For some people, it may be easy to get there child on board with the idea. For others, their child could be strong headed and refuse to go with every ounce of their being. Whether it is their choice or not, I believe everyone should get the help they need and deserve.