Depression is something to deal with your mental health. Depression could be due to abuse, as in physical, sexual, or emotional abuse can make you more vulnerable to depression later in your life. It could also be caused by Certain medication, conflict, death or loss of a loved one, gender, genes, and major events that have happened to in before. From February first to the thirteenth, 2023, 38% of adults in West Virginia reported symptoms of anxiety and depression disorder. Scientists have shown in 2016, West Virginia children were struggling with anxiety and depression at a percentage of 11.7. Then they showed in 2020 that number jumped to 14.6 which is a 24.8 percent increase. If you have depression you can talk to a loved one or an adult you trust because depression can only get worse if you don’t talk about it. There is medication that you can take for depression but you may not be able to take the medication because of the things that they use in it. Medications you can use for depression and anxiety are Fluoxetine, Paroxetine, Sertrailine, Venlafaxine and others. First before you take these you need to contact your health care provider and your parents. If you have depression and you go to the Greenbrier West High school you can speak to the counselor which is Ms. Hicks or a trusted adult. There is a website that you can look up called Anxiety and Depression Association of America short for ADAA. It’s a nonprofit that offers blogs by experts and patients, educational webinars, and will help find a support group near you. (NAMI) National Alliance on Mental Illness is another site that is a nonprofit dedicated site that will help with your depression and anxiety. Other sites are Mental Health America (MHA) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Healthy minds Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA) and American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP). If you don’t think those sites will help you, you can talk to a parent or guardian or a trusted adult. You are not alone, you can talk to a friend or a teacher and most importantly your own parents. Depression can get worse it can make you feel suicidal or you might feel the need to harm yourself in other ways. There is a suicide hot line and it is 988 you can call or text to speak to someone to help you with your depression