Why do teens have so many emotional problems?

My are teenagers these days so depressed, sad, full of anxiety, unrespectful. Like I understand life can be hard some times but why cant people make the best of things....

Help me understand...

I mean that is completely understandable. I just wonder sometimes what causes teenagers to act that way. What types of things push them over the egde. To a place where they can no longer deal with things. That is what i found interesting.

It's disrespectful.

but to your question. not ALL teenagers are like that, it's just that the media and internet sites like this seem to attract people like that.

To your question as to what pushes people over the edge. well many things; abuse, domestic violence, drugs and alcohol, homelessness, neglect, grief.

However i don't necessarily think that that is such a new occurance. decades ago society had different morals and expectations and many people who experienced the same things as now knew that it was just a no no to talk about such things as depression, self harm, abortion etc. in some ways we are becoming more tolerant...actually more accepting of adversity. there are just as much adults being affected by what you call emotional problems i suppose everyone just focuses more on teenagers because it is expected that they are still young 'have nothing really to worry about, haven't really experienced hardship' etc.

Hormones...draw out emotions that are normally suppressed...so a bunch of teens experiencing hormonal changes; hormones RAGING--there is drama...drama leads to even greater mental instability, and so forth. It's a cycle. Break it! hahah

Not every teenager is depressed, i must say i didnt start feeling depressed until about a year ago, were the constant stress of work was getting to me.
You said at the start why cant people make the best of things, well it can be hard to look past the bad things and look into the light mainly because the media puts things in your head that make you feel like theres some thing wrong with you, there are family problems which can not be helped half the time, school is a major won i my self have been bullied for about 6 years now, hormones as some one said do not help in the slitest, and many people have constant pressure from friends to basicly be in the in croud or you just become lonly.
Goodmemorys you ask why are teenagers unrespectful seeing as my doesnt make much sence :P well that can be from bad parenting, and the massive cultural and religious changes have also affected how we behave it wasnt to long ago were practicly every one in the UK was a christian or catholic now its not so much so you can see that the views on things have changed quiet a bit in a short amount of time.

(sorry for any bad spelling mistakes.)

Thankx guys for helping me understand

Trying to figure out who you are in the world isn't the easiest thing to do, but maybe it's the influences and lies from the rest of the world, telling us that we have to look or act a certain way to be accepted by the world, when it's not true. . .

Yes, one's 20s, perfectly comfortable, relaxing, drama-free age, right?

*shakes head*

It is one of the saddest stages in your life u go through hormones, puberty, stuff going on at skool, confusion of what to be in future but then u eventually grow out of it around 20.

They just do. It's the stage in life..hormones, being in between a child and an adult, trying to find identity, figuring out your future..lots of struggles like that. We all grow out of it eventually though, it's all good.

TEENS=hormonal, over estrogend/testosteroned, irrational, irresponsible, ready but never ready, crazed, mad ppl....
I'm one I should know...
we want responsibilty, but we want our parents to back us up wen needed.
we are brought up with the whole concept of falling in love young-that usually causes alot of probs
we want to be young, but seen as adults
we are attention seekers
we want need beg cry laugh
we are teens, i know this is a generalization
but put urself in our shoes, with only our knowledge and experience...

Im a teen im depressed you wanna no why because i moved schools lost my friends and was bashed. my dad never cared called me fat, my mum an me are always foighting... my auntys an uncles who mean the world 2me told me they never want to see me again. Im itlian which means my family is everything 2me an they abandoned me,, iv had 4 people die this year some one close died yesterday, iv been teased my whole life an people make me hate myself so sweetheart can you please tell me how i can make the best of that situation?? SOME TEENAGERS ARE DEPRESSED BECAUSE THEYA RE GOING THROUGH HELL!

^I hate to say it seem and callous but that sort of is the truth. heartbrokesuicide, life is not easy. some people have it MUCH worse.
for example:

my best friend's father abandoned her family when she was two years old when her mother had just had another baby.

my close friend has struggled all his life to pay for tuition to have a good education, to pay for college, and on top of that he has to live every day with the fact that he's the child of a sexual assault: his father (unknown to neither him or his mother) is a rapist.

I've known and seen a lot worse, but these people are some of the strongest, brightest people I know and if they had let depression and hardships get them down, they would have been nothing. If you let stuff get you down too, you will be nothing. And it sounds hard and cruel, but thats the way it is. I'm sick of self-deprecation on all these sites. I mean I have no doubts you guys go through hard times, but no matter how sympathetic and empathetic I am, the poster always seems to resort to the same message "well I still hate myself."

Sometimes I think the trend nowadays is to be "emo" and its a competition of who has the worse life. Well thats a sick and twisted competition and I don't want to have any contributions to crowning a winner.

Do you get pleasure out of telling people who are struggling others lifes are worse???

U may have three jobs an all that but how old are you??
i just turned 14!!! im pritty sure my life is quite bad!! i no others may have it a lil worse... but seriously u cant say mine is fine because i think i would be up there in the top 10 of bad lives...

I never said i idnt try to be happy cause i do its just hard...

^^A little harsh, but quite true... feeling sorry for oneself makes me uneasy. Life is tough, if it wasn't full of trials it wouldn't be life. A lot of trials seem to pile in the "teen" years, but once they are over you can make something of yourself...
Stop feeling sorry for yourself, be more proactive-get a job, finish school etc. you are obviously in a society that has oppertunities, look for them.

Believe it or not im actually not feling sorry for myself...

Yea wel. You must be some tough gurls because by the sound of it you had a bad life to an u shuldnt b beating yaself up saying atleast im bnot starving on the streeets
grr
ppl here annoy me so much because they never actually understand!!

EWHEN U UNDERSTAND HOW I FEEL THEN LECTURE ME!!!

'but seriously u cant say mine is fine because i think i would be up there in the top 10 of bad lives...'

Yeah, okay, sweet cheeks. you can stop right there. take a long hard look at yourself. strip yourself of the arrogance and vanity for a second and really look deep. you have a computer with internet access. i'm assuming you have parent(s), and go to school. a roof over your head, food, water, pretty much the basics. now that aside, how the hell is your life worse than what you see on the streets? everytime i go to Guy's hospital, there is a mental man sitting in the cold rain outside, with a hat for his money, living off whatever pennies we'll throw at him. In the uk, there are old people, who worked hard for all of their lives, and now can't even sit in peace and enjoy what they earned because the government takes it away for unworthy foreigners. In africa, there are anorexic, starving children, where even the thing they need the most, water, can kill them. There is a poverty stricken grey filled sky in russia, where everything is bleak and dull, and they earn about 10 pounds a week to live, and they have to strive to keep themsleves happy and uplifted in a world with no colour. There was a man, who's skin fell off every day, in huge patches, and even getting out of bed was a struggle. Any movement from his wheel chair was agony, yet he kept on with a smile on his face, eager for his death. and you think you, have it worse, or are even conjoint in the top 10 of bad lives? get a clue girl, you haven't seen half of it. It'll be such a shock to you when you get out in the real world and need independence and your little 'I have it so hard' speech isn't working for you anymore. I don't know who you think you are, but you seriously need a reality check.

BANGBANG hit some really good points there.

to HeartBrokenSuicide:
I come from a poor country and lived through war as a child. Trust me just having food, water, a bed to sleep in, and an educated mind along with the opportunity to go to school is enough. The rest is pretty much luxury. I know that sounds crazy but there's a tonne of people out there who have it considerbly worse.
Goodness appreciate life just a little more. You're alive, don't waste it.
(and yeah I know it's hard..we've all been there though..you're not the only one.)

I dont think its very fair that everyone on here seems to judging each other, this isnt a competition as to whos life is worse, i mean yeah everyone has it bad at some point and think they have it worse than others, but there are people who have it harder than we do, and then theres people who have it harder than them.
But it doesnt give us the right to say that those who have better than some don't deserve help, we should be offering advice and helping others move past the bad years instead of saying that you have worse so get over it.
Some people find it hard to look at the good when all they feel and see is bad. Some people deal with things in their own ways and if it works for them then good. Some people need help from others to move on and others don't.
Everyone is different and can deal with a different things. Some people find the level they are on hard enough with out people hurting them more, and some people can stand that level and say its easy, but not everyone is the same and sometimes we should reach out to those who need us even if we have had/have it worse.

I'm really really in with Angelina on this one. HeartBrokenSuicide, she didn't bash you even once, and I agree with everything that she said. Try to stop pitying yourself. Once in a while it is okay, but with this attitude, you're going to get NOWHERE. Toughen up, atleast a little, the world is very harsh. You won't survive in it this way. You have one life, and time's ticking by, You might as well be happy. IF you can't, too bad...be depressed. But you have one life, and time's ticking by. Try to remember that.

To answer the poster...I think it's lack of experience. Hormones make you feel like you're riding a bike on the alps, but they don't make you DO crazy things. People don't run away from homes because of hormonal imbalance. Well, most don't. They do that because they aren't experienced enough to know that the world outside is probably far worse than their mother making her do the plates twice a day.

It is called High school, for some people high school you can fly through and it be great others high school is like hell with all the rumors and stares and all that drama in some cases.

Self-deprecation is annoying.

Well good for but for most teens in nz they dont pass high school coz of this new system they brought out, its stupid and makes everything so much harder to handle. if you choose the wrong classes, your stuffed, you need so many points to pass a year and when you add up all the points i can get this year, its still not enough. most of us have given up now. tired of the teachers treating us like sh*t tired of the area we live in downing all of us, tired of trying and failing.

Teens need to realise that they are not the only ones to feel like they do. Everyone has those times when life becomes to much to bare. What can you do except get on with life? Part of the problem is parents: they don't realise that their kids need help, don't care, or don't know how to connect with them because they are rarely ever around. Another problem is society: no one gives two shits about any one else.
Human nature: when one sees another struggling they ruthlessly ostrasize (spl?) them.
Kids themselves: they do not learn from their mistakes. (Example) So you effed up a relationship... why cry about it 'til you turn grey? Why not think about what you did and then fix that problem so that the next time it doesn't happen.

Oh, and by the way. Before anyone screams "you're a guy you don't understand" or "you obviously had it easy" no I didn't. No one has had it easy.

I grew up in sub-urban England. My dad beat me every other day. He punched me, kicked me, choked me, etcetera. He beat my sister (not as often but it hurt that I could do nothing). He was always drinking and we never had food on the table. My mum didn't bother to help me, she was never around, to busy trying to support two kids and a husband who didn't get off his ass. We moved to America when I was eight leaving all my friends behind. My sister stabbed me in the back at nine and has seriously tried to kill me half a dozen times. Half my family (including extended family: cousins, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc.) have died within the past seven years. My dad died and the last thing I told him was 'f***ing die already, I hate you!' after he tried to apologize to me. I'll never forget how hurt he looked. He died the next morning. My sister and I have not said a single word to each other in a little under four months (and we live in the same house). Friends have died and friendships fizzled out.
Have I had it worse than others? Maybe so. Have others had it a lot worse than me? Definately so. Do I remain down on myself all the time? No, I know that a lot of that is not my fault. What was my fault I have learned from and I accept responsibility for it. Live, learn, and love. That's about all one can do.
Peace.

Im not dumb! like i sadi where i live, thats New Zealand, you live in Bulgaria or where ever, completely different places with completely different systems. anyway this is way off topic, im surprised this hasnt been locked yet.

Always wanted to visit Bulgaria... any where you can recommend would be glorious Angelina.

Anyways, the American school system is much to easy. Their history department cannot even properly cover the causes and effects of WW1 or WW2! I'm taking a college level history class (I'm an eleventh grader currently). Hopefully it will actually teach me something. Maybe I'll even have to read the book. That'd be lovely.

^I think you have a very valid point, attention-seeking behavior is getting out of hand with teenagers these days. I also think that most suicidal behavior when it comes to petty issues like you stated above are solely because of wanting attention. It's really tiresome and very aggravating. especially to the people who really do have things rough.

I didn't read all of this but my answer to the poster.
I think that those teens that do have a lot of emotional problems are caused by many things.
1) Most of them have no relationship with there parents or not a big enough one to count
2) Trust issues. Teens go through a lot and they really need someone there to talk to that is older and has had some of the same experiences that they are dealing with. Thats were parents should come in, but most the time don't.
3) Parents are always pushing what is good and bad. Which is fine. But when they tell you how much trouble you would get in for something that you have done then you don't want to talk to them about it obviously.
4) Peers presuring things on you. Sometimes teens will do stuff that they don't want to just because they are being pressured into it. Which is bogus. They should stand up for themselves in my opinion.
over all though there are many factors and not the same in ever situation.