Table of Contents

Genre Letter of Explanation Collage of Pressures that Lead to Depression Narrative to Explain Reasoning of Project Collages of Pressures of Being a Woman and a Man Collage of Pressures of Dating Brochure of Symptoms of Depression Collage of Pressures of Eating Found Poem about Affects of Depression Collage about Peer Pressure Newsletter about the Facts and Resources for Depression Page
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Life with Depression

To whom it may concern: I would like to thank you for the opportunity of explaining my Life with Depression project to you. First of all, this project is meant to inform a variety of audiences, but its specific audience is educators throughout todays American schools. I choose to create a project revolved around adolescent depression because depression is becoming more prevalent among adolescents in todays society. I feel that it is important for educators to understand depression and the ways in which it affects students in order to allow them to help students. Throughout my project, you will find collages that represent the various pressures that can lead to depression among adolescents. The pressures that I represent are by no means an exhausted list, but I wanted to represent the ones that I have seen most among the adolescents that I have worked with. The first collage represents different pressures ranging from family life to world issues such as war. The next series of collages represent the pressures to be an ideal person. Then I represent the pressures of dating because I feel that dating can consume the lives of many adolescents. The second to last collage is about the pressures of eating, which may seem out of place, but I feel it is important to acknowledge the pressures of eating because many adolescents devote a vast amount of time to thinking about food. The last collage is about the pressure of peer pressure, which I feel is one of the most influential pressures that lead to depression. In my project, I have also included a narrative and a found poem because I wanted to acknowledge the creative side of adolescents. Also, I feel that many times, adolescents represent their feelings though poetry and other creative forms so I also tried to express my thoughts through poetry. The two genres that follow are a brochure and a newsletter because I wanted to use a more professional approach to explaining the symptoms and resources for depression. Thank you again for the opportunity to explain my Life with Depression project, and I hope that you know possess a greater understanding of my genres and the reasons that I chose these specific genres. Thank you, 5432 Any Street West Townsville, State 54321 USA (543) 555-0150 (800) 555-0150 (543) 555-0151 fax www.adatum.com

Jamie Forde 2

Adolescent Depression
Depression. An agonizing, lonesome feeling which impacts teenagers all over America. Depression. A pitfall of emotions that can lead to eating disorders, self-mutilation, and even suicide. Depression comes from school, family, and societal pressures. Teenagers are bombarded with factors that lead to depression, and yet nobody seems to be helping them. I watch students walk in and out of classrooms with warning signs painted all over them. And I wonder, who will help these students? Who will rescue them from the effects of depression? I, myself, jot down mental notes about the students I see with these warning signs, and then I move on. I, myself, do nothing. How many others are out there that also take a mental note and then move on while doing nothing? And then what? Then we hear some tragic news about a student that harmed themselves in some way, and we wonder why. Or we dont hear about the student harming themselves. Instead,

we see a student sink inside themselves and refuse to do work, and we wonder why. Why do we wonder why when weve already noted the warning signs? I believe we wonder why because we dont know what warning signs we noticed. We know theres something wrong, yet we dont know what, and we dont know what to do with the information we possess. We dont think our students could be depressed - - theyre teenagers, not down-trodden adults that carry the world on their shoulders. Teenagers are supposed to be carefree, fun-loving, with few significant problems. And if it is depression, what do we do? I feel we dont know what to do. We dont know what resources are out there for adolescents and we dont know how we, as educators, can approach and help students. I believe that it is time to step out of the dark. I believe that it is time to stop asking why. I believe that it is time to education ourselves in order to better help out students.

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Depression
The problem with me is that I'm a perfectionist, or to put it differently, an overachiever. I always wanted to be good at everything - so I never tried things where I knew I might make a mistake. This made me a very withdrawn reclusive person. A couple of months back, I got into an unpleasant situation, which laid the basis for what was to come. I self injure. I've always done it, ever since I can remember but it wasn't very obvious because I would hit my head against a wall or hit myself or something that didn't leave a mark. It then escalated to scratching with needles until I punctured my skin. The first time it was supposed to be a homemade tattoo, but I discovered that it didn't hurt and I actually felt better afterwards. How rightful it seems to hurt myself. I've hurt so many people, now it's justice I do it on me. But not just because of that... I have to hurt myself to let out the mental pain. When someone hurts my feelings, I have to let it out through pain. When I screw up I have to punish myself. I do it since I know about me. I abuse myself just as I get abused or as I abuse someone else. I do it for the guilt, the terrible demon of guilt. I do it for pain that they cause to me. I do it for the anxiety in my stomach. I get rid of the pressure that way. I tear myself apart any way I can. Each day I would cut, come out of school and seek that sweet relief that only I could understand. The blood would ooze out of the wounds, slowly dripping to the ground, washing away all my pain and sorrow and replacing it with an ugly happiness, which at that time, I didn't know I didn't want. Every day a cut, every night a cry. The pain was never enough to fully cover up the torment inside but at least it enabled me to keep it disguised form the outside world just for a little longer. I began to fully isolate myself from all that was dear to me. I now spend hours sitting on my chair next to the window, watching the world go by outside. Sometimes I open the window and the cold autumn air will come wafting in. I take a deep breath and close my eyes. Somehow, it doesnt seem real to me anymore, that world. I feel detached from it. Isolated. I dont even bother to keep track of the news. I dont care anymore. I am done with this world. I am not part of it anymore It's hard when there is nobody else to talk to or anyone else to understand. 12

Being alone brings depression to an all-time low for anyone, and I was almost always alone. But even when I wasn't, I thought about how alone I was in life. I was feeling very down and depressed. I had so much pent up emotions inside I wanted to lash out. I stopped for a while, but now if I get depressed or in a situation in which I feel I can't cope then I start again. I'm scared that others might think me to be weak, I'm scared that others might think this to be a flaw of character rather than a disease, I'm scared that they don't understand or maybe don't even want to understand. At the end of the day this is not about me, it's about the society I live in; judgmental and cruel they condemn all which does not coincide with their perfect picture of the world. Once again I have reached the end. I can feel it so close, right next to me, but this time things are different, this time I don't have the strength to escape its seemingly inescapable fangs anymore. I am weak but you are the ones that have made me weak. All of you! All of you that took away that which now I cherish the most, my happiness. Damn you for giving me hope that things could get better, damn you for thinking you could help me, damn you for not having let me go last time. Things DO NOT just get better. How should they? Some things in life just cannot be changed, maybe this is one them, maybe it is not. However, even if it were not it wouldn't change the fact that I cannot go on, that I have become weak, have long been defeated by this.
-compiled from entries from Catataonias Hideout

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Works Cited for Multigenre Research Project Caldwell, Alicia. Jeannie Ritter dives in. The Denver Post. 25 Feb. 2007: E1-2. Claudia. Catataonias Hideout. 11 Aug. 2001. <http://www.angelfire.com/home/hideout/>. Depression is Real Coalition. Depressionisreal.org. 25 Feb. 2007 <http://www.depressionisreal.org/index.html>. Ellen Li, Cindy & Raymond DiGuiseppe & Jeffrey Froh. The roles of sex, gender, and coping in adolescent depression. Adolescence 2006: 409-415. Academic Search Premier. ESBCO. Morgan Library, Colorado State University, 25 Feb. 2007 <http://web.ebscohost.co m/ehost/>. Jones, Jami. Now I know too much to turn away. Newsweek 3 Mar. 2003: 12. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Morgan Library, Colorado State University, 25 Feb. 2007 <http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/>. Lets talk about depression. NIMH Publications. June 2001. National Institute for Mental Health. 25 Feb. 2007 <http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/letstalk.cfm>. Teen drug use and sex may be cause of depression, not effect. Brown University Child & Adolescent Behavior Letter Nov. 2005: 3-4. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Morgan Library, Colorado State University, 25 Feb. 2007 <http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/>. Thames, Brenda J. Understanding depression. Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service 20 Oct. 2006: 1-7. Center for Disease Control and Protection. 25 Feb. 2007 <http://www.cdc.gov/nasd/docs/>. Vail, Kathleen. Helping students through depression. Education Digest Apr. 2005: p36-42. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Morgan Library, Colorado State University, 25 Feb. 18

2007 <http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/>.

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