Broken Teen Scars T.D. Series 2: T.D., #2

By Patrice M Foster

Esther struggles with depression and low self-esteem due to the lack of parental involvement in her life while growing up. The constant desire for acceptance from her parents, especially her father, caused her to make many impulsive decisions. As she reminisces on her teen years with appreciation, she realizes every obstacle she came in contact with helped her grow into the strong young woman she is today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Patrice M Foster
• Release date: Dec 2, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223717386

Patrice M Foster

About The Author Patrice M Foster is a Registered Nurse in Childhood and Adolescence Psychiatry, with more than 30 plus years of clinical experience. She blogs and writes about issues that affect kids' mental health

Book preview

BROKEN:

TEEN SCARS

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T.D. Series Book 2

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Patricemfoster.com

Table of Contents

Title Page

Broken Teen Scars T.D. Series 2

Chapter One............................................9

Chapter Two...........................................14

Chapter Three..........................................39

Chapter Four...........................................46

Introduction

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

by

Patrice M Foster

This book is a work of fiction. This book is not intended or meant to replace sound medical advice. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Broken Teen Scars

Copyright © 2016 Patrice M. Foster

ISBN: 9780998187419

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016917819 Cover design By Keri Knutson @alchemybookcovers.com

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal.

Table of Contents

Introduction............................................1

Life With Depression..................................2

Some Facts About Depression...........................3

Depression Is A Health Condition........................4

When You Are Homeless...............................7

Chapter One............................................9

Meet Me.............................................9

Running Away From Myself...........................11

Chapter Two...........................................14

A Father's Approval..................................14

Learning To Cope...Or Not............................18

Leaving Home.......................................21

Rejection And Depression.............................23

My Choices.........................................24

A Mother's Love.....................................33

The Meaning Of Heartbreak...........................37

Chapter Three..........................................39

Truly Alone.........................................39

The Dark Path.......................................41

Chapter Four...........................................46

Friendship...........................................46

Loss................................................51

The Still, Small Voice.................................55

Conclusion............................................58

Me Today... Returning To The Light....................58

Sources...............................................65

Other Books By Patrice M Foster.........................66

Introduction

You are about to read the story of the life of a young woman named Esther. It is a story she is going to tell you in her own words, but before you read it, you should understand a few very important facts about her struggles and the scars they left. They are not scars you can see, and they may sound like scars you have too, or maybe they sound like scars that a friend carries.

The first fact is that Esther is someone who suffers from depression. This is different from being sad or unhappy. As one expert said: "Feeling unhappy or sad in response to disappointment, loss, frustration, or a medical condition is normal. Many people use the word ‘depression’ to explain

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these kinds of feelings, but that is really situational depression, which is a normal reaction to events around us." (https://www.ineedalighthouse.org/depression-suicide/teen-depression/)

So, Esther is not someone who is just sad a lot or who is disappointed from time to time. What

Esther suffers from is clinical depression, and it is a condition that can be overwhelming and never-ending. It left her feeling completely broken inside.

You will hear Esther describe herself as feeling like she was living in the center of a black hole in the middle of a faraway universe and like she was doomed to life on the streets.

LIFE WITH DEPRESSION

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She was unable to shake off the despair, loneliness, and sense of being isolated, but this is not the only way that someone with depression feels. Others with depression say they feel lifeless or empty; they say they cannot experience anything, even pleasure. Many people with depression say that they are going through the motions and that it is as if they are not actually alive.

When someone says going through the motions, it means just as it sounds. You are doing something without really feeling anything.

As an example, imagine wrapping up gifts for people. It is really fun and exciting, and it can be difficult to do a great job at it if the gifts have odd shapes or are really big, but as you wrap

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them, you imagine the moment when the gifts are opened and consider how happy the person who got the gifts will be.

However, if you are depressed and just going through the motions, you won't have many thoughts as you wrap the gifts, and even if you do a good job, you will hardly pay attention.

You will just do it like a machine and feel no excitement, joy, or anticipation. You make motions, but you don't get anything out of those motions.

That is what Esther struggles with every day.

Esther's depression actually led her to life on the street, and to total isolation from her mother and father, brother and sisters - and worst of all, from herself. She did not return to herself until she had gone through her own personal nightmare, but the most important thing to know is that Esther chose to change and get better.

SOME FACTS ABOUT DEPRESSION

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Why do people like Esther - who is from a middle-class family of well-educated people - become depressed?

It happens for a lot of different reasons, and it happens to everyone. It is very common in teenagers, but the teens are all different ages, races, and from all economic backgrounds. That means that a poor white boy