The biggest problem in the current fast-paced and hectic world is depression. But, the issue that is being addressed through this article is the mental health challenges occurring due to biological changes in a woman’s body.
What are the risks associated with early puberty?
Girls who start with their first period at a very early age face a bigger risk of being affected by various other disorders. Depression is the biggest risk that, in turn, leads to behavioral issues and makes them highly anti-social.
It is, indeed, a challenging time for women when they hit puberty no matter at which stage it occurs. The struggle and its fight become tougher when an early puberty happens, a lot of studies have shown the similar pattern.
One’s mental health is primarily affected by early puberty in many different ways and is not just limited to that. It causes hormonal changes and physical abnormalities as well. It increases the fluctuation in an emotional state, which sometimes destroys an individual’s self-esteem and the peace within, and leads to constraint relationships and status in society.
Major problems occur during Adulthood:
In the words of leading author and researcher Jane Mendle, the interrelationship between puberty and all mental health issues goes hand in hand. In other words, the change in behavior and depression can disturb one’s life equally, whether it happens in adulthood or in adolescence.
This means the vulnerability that a woman faces psychologically lingers for an even more longer span of time as expected otherwise previously. Many types of research have been undertaken on this serious matter, where individuals of various race, social, economic background and ethnic base have been studied, and a similar conclusion is drawn.
The study basically had questions primarily focusing on the time of puberty and its effects that the respondents have faced growing up. They were enquired about the experience of the past one week and how frequently have they gone into some anti-social thinking and activities.
Factors responsible:
One prominent factor that came to light by virtue of this study was that the girls who faced puberty early in their life have been expected and even treated like they have grown older than their actual age. So, they are sometimes involved in matters that call for wise actions and require the right age wisdom to understand.
This creates a thinking in the mind of the young girls that maybe they don’t belong to their social circle because of their inability to understand the situation, which becomes the main reason for the mental disturbance to enter their peaceful and innocent life.
How can this issue be addressed?
While growing up, there are hormonal changes that affect the life of a girl psychologically, and the early occurrence of puberty only threatens to widen the risk of getting disturbed mentally. One should understand they need to provide empathy to such young girls and be a strong support so that a fighting spirit develops within them to overcome everything and shield themselves from any such problems.
Remember it’s always the love and care of one’s very own people with whom they are bound emotionally that can help them to be the real winner in life. And when it comes to puberty and its effects, the need is even more.
Conclusion:
Research is still on to find a stable connection between early puberty and depression. It may or may not be proved so, but till then, researchers point to the possibility of there being a connection. It is not necessary that someone who undergoes early puberty in their adolescence will definitely fall prey to depression in adulthood.
Depression is a mental condition while puberty is solely physical. They are different in almost every aspect. Having said that, this theory is still called so because it is yet being studied. The outcome will decide what we can finally conclude upon.
