But we shouldn't confuse normal sadness with depression. We teens tend to have emotions that go up and down all the time. That s part of our normal brain development. The term for normal sadness is desphoria. This may go on for a few days but it does not interfere with your every day functions.
Depression is a dysfunction of the brain.
When the brain has control, your feelings and mood don t work properly. Although teenage depression and adult depression are very similar, a psychologist told Street Cents that we teens present our depression differently. Adults usually have a very low, sad mood when they're suffering from depression. We teens act very irritable when we're depressed, but we don't know why we're irritable. We become lethargic and tired.