I was trying to find examples of writing that teenagers have produced about their depression. I stumbled across the web site for “In the Mix.” My link brings you to examples of writing, but I want to encourage all of you to browse around on the site.
“In the Mix” is a film that talks about teen depression and how to know if symptoms that students are showing are just from everyday stress or if they are battling with depression. It provides current stats about depression and teenage suicide and even provides definitions to “depression” and “self-injury.” I think this is a great site to visit—especially for future teachers. It also has a place where you can order a video. Now, I am not advocating that you run out and get the movie—but it might be something that you could show to students in the first couple days of school to show them that they are not the only people dealing with depression.
The thing that I love most about this site is that it provides a space for people to out post their thoughts, feelings, and personal testimonies about depression. The first story really hit me. This kid goes through all this terrible stuff just so that he can live. At the hospital he has to eat charcoal in order to make himself throw up all of the pills inside of him. The thing that affected me the most was when he writes,
“In the hospital, on my floor, there were a lot of sick kids. I mean, really sick…and I was there because I tried to kill myself. I took a room from someone who could have been dying, all because I did something stupid.”
He realizes that suicide is not the way to die and that it really is “something stupid.” The other writer ends with a poem that I would like to share with you.
“Take a razor
Slit your wrist,
Scream
Until there’s no sound left,
Beat the crap
out of yourself
while no one cares,
Until you finally
Dig to the bottom
Of your being.
Go as far
as you can go,
On the road of self-discovery,
Even if it results
in death.”
The thing that I like most about both entries is that they both do not say that there struggle is over. They both realize that they can receive help but do not act as if the problem will just disappear.
I think using these or other examples of writers talking about depression is an awesome thing to use in the classroom. They can be used to start a discussion or to be used in a journal activity.I think that so far I have found that writing seems to help people with depression. But this takes it one step further: when student writing gets published-whether in a book, magazine, or on the web-its potential grows. Not only does it help the writer, but it can help all of the people who read it as well.
D. and M.P. “Teens Writing About Depression.” PBS.org.
