ople. It affects all ages and both sexes, with an increased incidence in women. Major depression affects 1 out of 10 Americans at some point in their lives. Major depression is most common in adolescent girls, affecting 5 - 10% of the population. Before puberty, boys and girls seem to be equally vulnerable, about 1 to 2% of the population. Some of the famous people who suffered depression include: Queen Elizabeth 1, President Abraham Lincoln and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who called depression "the black dog that shadowed my life." Even infants can suffer from the severe depression called a "reactive attachment disorder", when baby lacks attention or nurturing, especially from the mother. These infants don't show appproptiate responces to stimuli, such as following objects with their eyes. TEENAGE DEPRESSIONMost teenagers diagnosed with depression have school difficulties including bad behaior. Basically, symptoms of depression are similar to all ages, but teenage depression is more often undetected because teenager's mood is supposed to jump up and down because of sometimes very little things. Again, the difference is that a trully depressed teenager has no hope of feeling better an happy events in their live do not lift their mood up. Most of the teenagers know they feel abnormally sad, but they do not know that what they are feeling is a symprom of an illness, not merely a down mood. Unless they know that it's a treatable illness, they think that they are crazy, that's why information is so important at this stage.MAJOR SYMPTOMS OF TEENAGE DEPRESSION:1. A feeling of sadness and hopelessness. (belief that there's no way to stop feeling stressed out and sad).2. Moodiness. (experiencing feelings of anger and sadness for weeks at a time).3. Eating disturbances. (eating either too much or too little).4. Sleep disturbances. (nightmares are common, difficulty of falling asleep or waking up early).5. Changes in social life. (...
