Depression. When asked to think of a visual for depression, most imagine a sad person who is isolated from society. But according to professionals and those who have experienced it, depression does not have any specific background or faces. It can happen to anyone: School leaders, your best friend, a person you claim to know better than yourself.. The truth is, it is impossible to know.

According to Psych Central Approximately 20 percent of teens experience depression before reaching adulthood. The suicide attempt rate increases by 12 times when a teen experiences depression. Schools are a common place where depression is prominent. Here, students are educated of the general signs of depression, due to the emphasis the district gives it.

Last year, the school showed state-mandated videos on suicide prevention, how to handle a victim of depression, and some general signs needed to indicate someone going through it. Even though there is a prevalent talk between teachers and students, people often do not hear about the experiences from a student’s point of view.

Sophomore Chloe Wallingford has been going through depression since the age of 11. Dealing with this issue from a young age, she had to learn to cope with it before informing her parents. Later she was diagnosed by a professional and received medications.

“I was constantly bullied,” Wallingford said. “I had so many family issues…That kind of made it worse.”

According to the organization Recovery, during adolescent years teens are more prone to depression. Teens going through depression can sometimes feel like they can’t talk to anyone about it. Some tend to close up; others tell anyone who will listen.

“A lot of times a person with depression will put a bubble around them and not allow anyone to help them and it doesn’t matter,” counselor Kimberly Clingan said. ”Your friends and family, if you’re down they can pick you up and everything’s good. But when the depression is clinical, when your family is trying to get you out of that mud, it just sucks you down and it makes it feel like they’re working harder to pull you out.”

As time went by, Wallingford’s mother realized the change her daughter was going through and took her to consult a professional. The treatments are unique depending on each person and their personality. Wallingford was prescribed antidepressants to help her condition and went to group therapy.

“The group therapy didn’t really help and I had felt really isolated,” Wallingford said, “The thoughts of wanting to kill myself went through my mind at the time. They aren’t with me anymore, but along with it I constantly felt not good enough, and hated myself.”

Depression is very prevalent in teens because the causes can have a greater impact on their mental well-being. The constantly changing society brings problems like relationships, friendships, school work and social issues into the path of teens. When teens can’t handle these problems, it changes the way they look at life according to counselor Dominique Scott.

“If they are struggling with adversity and they don’t know how to deal with it,” Scott said. “Personal issues, and nowadays, from what I’ve seen in teenagers there seems to be an issue, or some type of struggle they have not encountered before, they don’t know how to go through it and solve it.”

During 2013, Wallingford had to switch schools due to bullying. When she first moved in seventh grade, she had experienced bullying and teasing from her peers. This had put her in a bad state. In the middle of her eighth grade year, her family ended up moving once more due to family drama revolving around her depression. She found herself in Creek Valley Middle School, where she met a group of friends who had helped her cope with her depression.

“I’m getting there, it’s a lot better,” Wallingford said, “I have been clean of self harm for one year and four months, so that’s good.”

People have different ways to cope with the emotions and situations when going through depression. Without help, anyone could go deep into the tunnel and not come out alive. Wallingford is learning to cope with her depression and offers some advice to anyone experiencing it currently.

“It will get better, I’ll tell you that now, it just needs a lot of time,” Wallingford said, “You can’t expect it to end quickly, but you’ll get through it.”