mental effects
Your brain can react just as intensely as your body during early puberty. It's super common for kids going through early puberty to feel less confident about themselves than they did before all this change started happening. In this way, early puberty is affecting your self esteem - that is, how much you value, respect, and feel confident about yourself. It's not uncommon for your self esteem to feel quite low at this time. In fact, it can become so low that you begin to feel depressed. Depression is the word for a significant, negative change in your mood. Many people think depression is persistent sadness. However, that's not always the case. It can also show up in many different ways, which are listed below on this page. If you think you might be depressed, reach out to someone you trust, and your doctor can help get you feeling back to normal.
How your brain changes during adolescence.
Here are some specifics to help you anticipate how your brain might react to early puberty.
stress
Many kids find puberty to be a stressful time in their lives. Kids who go through puberty early are even more likely to feel stressed about these changes. They're also more likely than other kids to continue feeling stressed into adulthood. Sometimes, this is because these kids internalize problems that develop during this time. This stress is normal, but can be reduced by having the right information and support. A quick conversation with someone you trust can go a long way.
depression
Depression is not a bad word. It's just a word that describes a set of symptoms you're feeling, kind of like strep throat, or the flu. It's important to recognize depression symptoms because they are so common in kids who go through early puberty. Symptoms include irritability/anger, fatigue, feelings of sadness, worthlessness, hopelessness or guilt, withdrawal from social life and increased sensitivity to rejection, changes in sleep and appetite, vocal outbursts or crying, trouble with concentration, or thoughts of death or suicide.
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