In this article, Dr. Aragay Vicente, a specialist in clinical psychology, reflects on the importance of detecting depression, avoiding its stigmatization and paying attention to the relationship that can be established between this disorder and the use of social networks and screens in young people.
Sadness and depression are two different concepts. On the one hand, depression is a change in a person’s mood, which can be experienced throughout the days and of sufficient intensity to cause interference in their day-to-day life. On the other hand, experiencing sadness or other mood changes is normal, so we cannot expect to always be in a good mood. These changes are very different from what we consider a depression, which is a pathology with very clear symptoms, durability and a very clear interference in the functioning of that person in their daily life.
A worrying disorder among young people
The numbers indicate that in recent years the number of people suffering from this pathology has been increasing significantly, especially among young people, and the WHO indicates that it will be the next disease of concern after COVID.
The symptoms that can alert us that we are going through a process of depression are quite clear, beyond the sadness and the tendency to cry easily are accompanied by other symptoms, such as a lack of energy, the difficulty to enjoy those things that the person usually did, apathy, and sometimes even irritability. Other cognitive alterations may also appear, such as problems concentrating or remembering information. Others can be difficulty to sleep, alterations in appetite, headaches and tiredness. A combination of many symptoms that by themselves do not explain anything, but the combination of all of them maintained over time in an intense way and causing a clear interference in the functioning of the person may indicate that it is a depression.
Social networks as an escape from other problems
The latest studies published from the research center, reflect how 11% of young people who suffer addictions to social networks derive in depression. The phenomenon of depression related to addiction to social networks and the use of networks in adolescents is something that should be looked at very carefully. Young people make extensive use of social networks, they live in or through them on a daily basis, and it is therefore logical and consistent to see that their use can often be related to an attempt to find solutions to problems that the person may be experiencing or a way of coping with or escaping from certain problems. But at the same time, the continued use that this sector of the population makes of social networks can cause discomfort, low self-esteem, isolation and depression. Therefore, the relationship between the use of technologies and screens and depression is not unidirectional, but bidirectional.
Depression is twice as prevalent among adolescent girls as among boys.
It is also true that depression is twice as prevalent in females as in males. It is difficult to establish a causal relationship, but in the case of girls, it can be intuited that through the networks they seek a way to find companionship, support or refuge in their daily lives or even in the face of some discomfort they are suffering. It may be that at the beginning they feel at ease, they find the communication and support obtained on the networks reinforcing, so that their use may end up being uncontrolled or abusive and, then, they may run the risk of worsening their mood and even engage in reckless behavior on the Internet.
But we have already seen that there is no direct causal relationship, but rather a bidirectional one. Social networks, although they may seem to help us and can get us through the day to day, in the long run they will end up turning against us, causing an even greater worsening of the problems they are trying to avoid or many other associated problems.
Talking and not stigmatizing
Talking about all these issues naturally and calmly can help not to stigmatize people who suffer from depression, and it is important to do so in the media to give visibility and normalize a disorder that so many young people suffer from every day.