Thesis:  Macbeth started out as an innocent but turned into a bloody tyrant who was feared by all because of his cruelty.

In act 1, scene 2, page 4, line 15, Scotland has just won a war against nor-weigh because of the brave fighting of Banquo and Macbeth.  A bloody captain speaks to the lords and Duncan about how Macbeth is brave, valiant, and a good warrior.  “But all’s to weak: for brave Macbeth-well he deserves that name- disdaining fortune, with his brandished steel, which smoked with bloody execution, like valor’s minion carved out his passage, till he faced the slave, which never shook hands nor bade farewell to him till he unseamed him from his nave to the chaps, and fixed his head upon our battlements.”  In this quote Macbeth is so far portrayed as a brave valorous person that everyone likes.  He is also very loyal to his cause because not everyone has to kill in such a flashy way.  He seems like a person that commands respect from everyone at all times.  Macbeth so far is feared on the battlefield, but is respected off of it as a loyal person.

In act 1, scene 3, page 12, line 144, the three witches have just popped out and told their prophecy to Banquo and Macbeth.  Macbeth is talking to himself about the witches’ prophecy.  (Aside)“If chance will have me king, then chance will crown me, without my stir.” This shows that Macbeth doesn’t really want to be king, but if he should become king it would be welcome.  Macbeth says this aside to himself, which shows that he doesn’t want his companions to know exactly what he is thinking about.  He also says that he will not pursue this idle thought that he may become king because it may lead to bad things and thoughts.

In act 2, scene 1, page 25, line 37, Macbeth is talking to himself mulling over if he should kill Duncan or not.  Lady Macbeth has been egging him on, so his mind is wavering and his loyalty is failing.  “Art though not, fatal vision, sensible to feeling as to sight?”  Macbeth is having an illusion of a dagger floating around, and is thinking of taking it and sticking it into the king.  He is being convinced which shows that he is weak willed and is easily tempted with power. 

In act 2, scene2, page 28, line 34, Macbeth has just killed Duncan and has planted the daggers covered in blood on his unconscious guards.  He is depressed because he sinned and could not pronounce Amen in prayer with the drunken guards.  “But wherefore I could not pronounce “Amen”, I had most need of blessing, and “Amen” stuck in my throat.”  Macbeth was pushed over the edge when he killed Duncan.  His old valorous brave self no longer exists and has been replaced with a shell of grief and violence.

In act 3, scene 1, page 41, line 49-51, Macbeth has just seen Banquo and Fleance (Banquo’s son) go out horse riding. He has ordered some assassins to go and kill Banquo.  He needs to kill Banquo in order to keep his position as king because Banquo is full of loyalty to the old king.  “Our fears in Banquo stick deep, and in his royalty of nature rein that which would be feared.”  He says this alone after he just sent for the assassins that he hired to kill Banquo.  Macbeth has not gotten over murdering Duncan and is eager to quench his thirst to stay in power.  He won’t stop for anything not even killing his own best friend and his young son.

In act 3, scene 2, page 47, line 46, Macbeth has just ordered the assassination of Banquo.  He is telling Lady Macbeth to mind her own business and thank him later for helping them stay in power.  “Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck, until you applaud the deed.”  Macbeth’s evilness has now progressed so far that he has started to think for himself when planning evil deeds.  He has become to think like a criminal and a murderer. His mind has now become so twisted that he would now be unrecognizable to anyone save for his appearance.

In act 4, scene 1, page 66, line 122, Macbeth has just seen the ghost of Banquo, which startled him and has gone to the witches seeking advice.  He sees three apparitions that tell him that none of woman born shall harm Macbeth, fear Macduff, and Macbeth shall never be harmed until the forest marches right up to his castle.  After hearing this he demands to know one more thing.  “Yet my heart throbs to know one thing.  Tell me, if your art can tell so much, if Banquo’s issue shall ever reign this kingdom.” Macbeth wants to know if he should pursue the issue of Banquo further.  This shows that Macbeth is ready to do anything to remain in power.

In act 4, scene 1, page 68, line 173, Macbeth has just heard from one of the apparitions that he should fear Mac duff, but Mac duff has fled the country.  Macbeth decides to kill Mac duff’s family in his stead. “The castle of Mac duff I will surprise, seize upon Fife, give to the edge of the sword, his wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls that trace him in his line.”  Macbeth can now pronounce the deaths of innocent children easily, and because of his cruelty, he now reigns by mostly fear.

In act 4, scene 3, page 75, line 56, Mac duff and Malcolm have fled to Scotland and have had a heat filled conversation about Macbeth.  In the middle of this conversation, a lord comes up and tells Mac duff that his children and wife have been murdered.  Macduff says how Macbeth is the most evil “thing” ever.  “Not in the legions of hell can come a devil more damned in evils to top Macbeth.”  Macbeth now commands fear and hatred over everyone.  Wherever he goes death follows him.  He is now recognized as such an evil person that his name has become taboo to say.

In act 5, scene 3, page 87, line 11, Macbeth is  waiting for the report on the enemy thanes and their progress.  Macbeth is talking to his servant in a harsh manner for no reason at all. “The devil damn thee, though cream faced loon!”  Macbeth before would never be this blatantly rude to someone.  This shows how Macbeth has grown so evil that he no longer cares how he treats people who are of lesser status then he is.

            Macbeth as a character evolved over the course of the play.  He started out as a gracious, brave, valiant, and honest person, and ended up as a twisted, evil, and cruel villain.  This change was brought on partly because Macbeth was a lose cannon ready to blow in the beginning, but his wife helped pushed him over the edge so that he snapped.  This manipulation is sickening, and lady Macbeth rightfully went insane and died.  This change in character is a great example of how a person can become the exact opposite of what they originally where.

Let me start off by saying, I am not a person who just sits down and lets someone insult them.  NO.  I’m not saying I’m one of those guys who can’t take a little joke.   I’m talking about just letting someone just walk right over you and stomp a couple of times, just to rub in the mud.  I’m talking about someone battering your mental bulwark until you crumble.  I’m talking about someone making your life utterly terrible. This is what some kid tried to do at my bilingual French/English hockey camp last year in Quebec, Canada.   He just didn’t like me, and I returned this feeling with an equal or greater sense of hatred.  And this year, I was back for vengeance. (opener, vocabulary words, repetition for effect)

            Needless to say, that year was tough, but the next year I went, it was slightly different.  I was going with some of my other hockey-playing friends.  Their names were Liam Bonner, John Dean, Andrew Kohler, and Joey Dooner.  Like every group of young people, everyone in the group had their role.  Liam was the smart aleck, John was the big scary one, Joey was the punching bag, Andrew was the funny one, and I was the one who held up our reputation on the ice.  We were a rowdy bunch of teenagers who didn’t know that violence was bad yet, but their companionship was comforting because I now had someone who I could speak to without using a French accent.(humor)

            As soon as we got to camp, my friend, Liam, started things off well by running around and screaming, “FIGHT ME, YOU CHEESE EATING SURRENDERRERS.            So 15 minutes in I was already having more fun than I had last year. 

After we got situated in my dorm room, we went over to the rink for our first training session.  Before we went on the ice, though, my coach wanted to explain the week to both us and our parents.  For some reason 5 minutes straight of French translated into, “Your boy have fun and eat pizza.”  After that particular quote, I used the valuable skill that every teenager has of ignoring adults who probably meant to help us.(humor, dialogue)

            After this talk, me and my friends went to get dressed.  Lo and behold, there was The Jerk.  The Jerk’s name was Julian and he looked like a Tyrannosaurus Rex had a baby with a walrus.(humor)  I know that your probably thinking, why is this kid such a big deal?  Well last year he tormented me when I didn’t know anybody.  I felt lonely, and just plain terrible.  Of course as soon as my friends heard him talk, they walked right up to me and said, “ Do you know that guy?”(dialogue).  I responded by doing what comes naturally to me in almost every situation, laughing.

            The reason I was so confident was because I got a whole lot better at hockey in that year away from camp.  My theme song would have been “Stronger”, By Kanye West, except instead of harder, maybe awesomer.(humor)  Yeppers, I was feeling pretty good.  After awhile my conscience kicked in and I saw Julian in a different light.  I saw this fat kid in the corner who, even though he acted like an ass, was probably just lonely.  As I felt this feeling of compassion, I started to ignore it.  What then happened was we were having an off ice session and we started playing UFC.  Not wimpy UFC, we were actually pulling arm bars on each other.  Julian went up on to the mat, and I leaped on to face him.  Then what happened was I pushed him over and bent his arm the wrong way until he caved. 

After this, I felt great and my week went on.  We had the same schedule every day:

7:30-Wake up/eat breakfast

9:00-On ice activity

10:30-Off ice activity

11:30-Lunch

1:00-Class or special training

2:00-On ice activity

3:30-Off ice activity

5:00-Dinner

6:00-Off ice activity

7:00-Game

10:00-Snack

11:00-Bedtime

With such a vigorous (not a vocabulary word, but a good one) schedule, I didn’t have time to reflect upon the matter of Julian.  Throughout the day, many things usually happened.  We got into fights with the key chains that they gave us. One of the kids from Quebec bent a lacrosse stick on the head of Liam, which I laughed at, and Liam got angry off at some “Frenchie” and decided to grate his skates on pavement, which I also laughed at along with my camp counselor. 

With all of the laughter, this week went by totally fast, and I left with a feeling of accomplishment about how I had dealt with Julian, how I had gotten better at hockey, and how I got to mix every soda together in the cafeteria.(humor, magic three)  As I thought about it, I realized that I had dealt with this situation poorly, and I could’ve done it a lot better.   Vengeance felt amazing, but a year later looking back on this experience, I realized if I had just dealt with Julian earlier and in a more pacifistic way, I might have had a better time at camp.  Even with this heavy weight upon my chest, I still managed to leave with a smile on my face.

Two of the darkest creatures in literature are, the Dementors from Harry Potter, and The Sirens from The Odyssey. Although Dementors and Sirens both incapacitate their victims, they do so in different ways, and by exploiting different emotions. It is strange to see how many emotions can be turned against a human.  It is interesting to see how these two creatures, even though created so far away from each other, are eerily similar.

Although both Dementors and Sirens control emotions in their prey, these emotions are very different from one another.  Dementors’ very presence instills absolute despair and fear, so bad that it is not uncommon for people to go insane because of just being around them. "Dementors infest the darkest, filthiest places, they glory in decay and despair, they drain peace, hope, and happiness out of the air around them…  Get too near a Dementor and every good feeling, every happy memory will be sucked out of you… If it can, the Dementor will feed on you long enough to reduce you to something like itself... soul-less and evil. You will be left with nothing but the worst experiences of your life,” (Remus Lupin, The Prisoner of Azkaban, Chapter 10).   You can see how Dementors instill fear even unto the bravest of people.  Harry, the protagonist, is known for surviving Voldemort, the antagonist, many times, yet as soon as he happens upon a Dementor for the first time, he faints out of terror.  Likewise, Sirens use human emotions to incapacitate their victims, but instead of fear, like Dementors, it is seduction.  The Sirens sing so beautifully that any sailor on their boat has such an intense impulse to go over to them, they ignore the mounds of corpses surrounding them, and the fact that it would spell certain death for them. “ I signaled with a frown for the crew to set me free,” (The Odyssey Book 12, line 210-211).  In this quote you can see how “brave Odysseus“ fights against his bonds, even though he knows it will spell certain death for him.  Seduction and fear are both powerful forces to be tangled with.

Even both Dementors and the Sirens eat their captured victims in order to gain sustenance, they go after rather different parts of the human.  The Sirens eat the flesh, bones, and everything else physical in a human.  They are carnivores that need flesh to sustain themselves.  “Lolling there in their meadow, round them heaps of corpses.” (The Odyssey Book 12, line 51-52).  You can see that there are many bodies surrounding the Sirens, rotting and half eaten.  This shows that they have a great physical impulse to eat food.  Dementors feed on nothing except the fear, despair, and souls of their victims.  Dementors can “kiss” their victims and suck their soul out through their mouth. Likewise, they feed off of the emotions that they inspire in humans. “A Dementor's last and worst weapon is called the Dementor's Kiss. The Dementor puts back its hood and clamps its jaws on the mouth of the victim and sucks out his soul, leaving him an empty shell, alive but completely, irretrievably ‘gone.’” (Remus Lupin, The Prisoner of Azkaban, Chapter 5).  This quote shows how the Dementors literally feed off of fear, despair, and even the soul.  This need for negative emotion coupled with their ability to make humans feel these emotions is a deadly combination. 

Although Dementors and the Sirens both are in different books, they both have personas that are both different and similar to each other.  Dementor’s have the persona of being like death. They symbolize the grim reaper. “A Dementor rose slowly from the box, its hooded face turned toward Harry, one glistening, scabbed hand gripping its cloak,” (The Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter, Chapter 7). Dementors are deathlike in everything they do, even in appearance.  They inspire fear, they look like floating black grim reapers, and they are eerie.  Sirens are different however.  In many stories they are said to be beautiful maidens that seduce the men on the ships to swim to their own deaths.  In the Odyssey, they are half woman, half bird, with grime and rotting flesh surrounding them with “Rags of skin hanging from their bones,” (The Odyssey Book 12, line 52). The Sirens may look ugly, but because of their singing, the sailors ignore their looks, and fill in their space with an illusion created by the mind of a beautiful woman. After all, both of these creatures have personas that precede them, and whether they are better or worse than the actual thing, when one meets them, one will probably die.

Dementors and the Sirens are both eerily similar, and at the same time different.  This is strange because of how far away form each other in time they where created, yet how their creators seemed to share a similar image of horror.  This has an underlying message that these two creatures are images that are subconsciously man’s greatest fear. Maybe they are the product of thousands of years of terror combined into two beings, or maybe not. We will never truly know how the human mind works and maybe it’s better that way.  

Thesis: Macbeth started out as an innocent person but turned into a bloody tyrant who was feared by all because of his cruelty.

I wonder what would happen if Lady Macbeth could comment on her husbands character evolution?

“Brave Macbeth” is what his brothers in war call him.  He deserves that name for he is a valiant warrior capable of wreaking great havoc among his enemy’s, with his sword stained red with bloody execution.  He has been known, also, to be a bit overdramatic and dedicated in his killing.  He likes to hang the heads of the smitten upon his battlements as a message, that all who enter Macbeth’s domain shall be killed.  But my husband is not a violent man, and he is valued as a trusted person of the king’s inner circle.  But he could do much more, he could be the king to surpass all previous.  Yet the path to such greatness would cause him to become filled with malice.

My husband is a great warrior and trusted advisee to the king!  Yet I am still unsatisfied with his grandeur.  He welcomes the fact that if chance should make him king then he would welcome it, but he is still to innocent and truthful to do the deed that is needed for him to progress through the ranks.  He will not raise a hand toward the effort of him becoming king.

He is weak!  He cannot fathom the thought of committing a foul crime against someone who nourished him.  He has illusions of daggers floating towards his hands but he cannot bring himself to plunge them into this foul king.

He has finally done it!  He plunged the dagger deep within his heart and watched as the crimson blood flowed from him.  But right now, he is distraught with depression, he cannot even say amen in prayer.  He was pushed over the edge when he killed Duncan, his mind couldn’t take the stress of it, so it has crumbled.

My husband is such a genius.  He has enough sense in him to realize that he should fear Banquo, not because of what a good warrior he is, but because of his royalty of nature.  But now “Brave” Macbeth knows how to deal with such information.  He will order Banquo’s murder, along with his son, Fleance.  Oh, my husband has turned from a loyal companion, to a person loyal only to himself.

Be innocent of the knowledge, hah he has finally begun to think for himself.  He doesn’t need my guidance anymore, he can call upon his own recourses to help fix all of our “problems”.  He is such an evil individual now that he can make decisions that are the causeway to someone’s life, or death.  With all of this power, he will spur our efforts further, so that we reach new levels of glory.

First he was wary of the witches prophecy, but now he goes to them on his own!  His heart surely has changed if he can openly go to such foul felons for advice.  But they told him some very insightful news.  He cannot be harmed by anyone who was born of woman, until the woods march up to his castle he will not be harmed, and that he should fear Macduff.  Why should he fear Macduff?  Even if he could harm him my husband is a better fighter?  Anyway, I should go rest.  Fro some oddity I have not gotten much sleep lately.

My husband might have finally crossed the line!  He ordered the murder of innocent woman and children, oh my heart is full of guilt.  I brought this upon us with my evilness.  Wait what am I saying?  “I” am not the one who declared that he would “Sieze upon the tip of my sword Macduff’s family.”  That was my husband!  Why was I questioning his actions either?  We both have committed deeds worse than this, and now he is just trying to assure to himself that the throne will stay beneath him.  Now I really have to sleep, I am awfully tired.

It is Evil!  I cannot even bring myself to look that devil in the face for fear that he might sentence me to an eternal slumber.  Yet he has done well, my mind keeps telling me, my eyes deceive my mind!  He has murdered many and now commands his vast forces through fear alone.  Many even believe that speaking his name is taboo, and will lead to their deaths.  This is what my brain tells me, and I think it might be right.  The only thing that hurts more is the fact that I pushed that snowball of hate down a hill, feeding it until it grew in size and strength, and eventually overthrew the man my husband used to be.

             I cannot go on much further.  My heart is aching, and my feet hurt from the walking that I now do at night, through my own castle while asleep.  Whenever I close my eyes, I envision my hands covered in the blood of the old king, and this blood I cannot wash off.  It shall haunt my consciousness forever.  My “husband” on the other hand, feels no such emotion.  He kills and plunders without a second thought.  He has even started treating the servants like trash and has taken to the habit of being cruel and controlling at all times.  He even thoroughly calls upon their features for ideas for insults, like “Though cream faced loon!”  He has turned into an awful man and I cannot take it anymore…… 

Macbeth as a character evolved over the course of the play.  He started out as a gracious, brave, valiant, and honest person, and ended up as a twisted, evil, and cruel villain.  This change was brought on partly because Macbeth was a lose cannon ready to blow in the beginning, but his wife helped pushed him over the edge so that he snapped.  This manipulation is sickening, and lady Macbeth rightfully went insane and died.  This change in character is a great example of how a person can become the exact opposite of what they originally where.

Bibliography:

Special thanks to google for providing images.

            Since E.A. Poe wrote short stories, I will summarize one of my favorite ones, which is called William Wilson.  There are two main characters in this story, William Wilson, and some other person whose name you never find out.  William is a tyrant of a child who always bullies other children into doing what he wants.  Then he meets this other child who stood up to him.  He hurt this child and made a big mistake.

            From that point on the child becomes a shadow of William.  He starts to walk, sleep, and eat like William.  The only thing that he couldn’t do exactly like William is speak because of the fact that his voice is very faint.  He could still get the infractions and tones of how he spoke, however, which created a very disturbing thing for William to see and hear.  As they grew older this other child kept on shadowing William.  Then William ran to another country to escape this child, and found himself cheating at poker in a rich Frenchman’s in Paris.  But right before he is about to cheat the Frenchman out of all of his money, a stranger barges in and explains how William is cheating. 

            After this William goes mad with rage and chases down the stranger, only to find out it is the boy from his childhood.  This young man still had the same way of speaking and this pushed William further over the edge.  William pulled out his sword and kills this person, and then the now man pronounces that he has just killed himself and turns into a mirror.  William falls to the ground, dead.

            This is the kind of story that E.A. Poe creates.  It is twisted and interesting at the same time.  The conflict is mainly person vs. person because William doesn’t know that this other boy is him until the very end, at which point it becomes person vs. self.  My favorite character would have to be William because of the fact that he didn’t snap earlier.  The only thing that I would expect anybody to get out of this story is that you should make sure you know the way you act and like it, before you go insane.

            I couldn’t really relate to anything in this story because I have always liked how I acted.  I have always been very cool-headed(mostly), and I think that my personality completely goes against such a story of dementedness.

            Having said that, I loved this story.  E.A. Poe uses such detailed verbs when he writes so that you can almost taste, feel, and smell everything around you.  He writes as though you are part of the character and so that the reader can really relate to the trauma that these characters go through.  I wouldn’t change anything about this story, and all of it is fantastic.   I would like to recommend this book to teens or young adults who like to feel their spine tingle with the sensation of horror that comes with E.A. Poe’s writing.

            Fitting in is a funny thing.  Fitting in really depends on what party you are trying to fit in to, and how you want people to see you, as a person.  Someone might be trying to get in to the jocks, or might be a geek.  Who knows.  All I can say for sure is that everyone fits in somewhere, and finding that somewhere is a very important part of life.

What makes someone an adult?

            What makes someone an adult is mainly mindset and circumstance.  If you have to care and provide for a family in some way, then you are an adult.  If you look at the world and think of how you have to fight for your place in it, then you are an adult.  Being an “Adult” has nothing to do with your age, it only has to do with how you treat obstacles that try to overcome you.

What is a “hero”?  How would you define it?

            Being a hero is every Childs dream.  What they don’t realize is that a hero doesn’t necessarily need superpowers, all they need is something to fight for, and risk their lives for.  Firefighters are hero’s, the military is filled with hero’s, and everyone who has ever risked something for what is right, or what they believe in, is a hero.

A time when I exceeded someone’s expectations.

            In case you didn’t know, my favorite thing ever is playing ice hockey.  I love the way that your skates slide over the ice, I love how it is hard enough that you have to give 100% all the time, and I love that skill takes a backseat to the ability to try your hardest.  That’s me.  My puck skills are bordering on terrible, but I always give 100% effort.  Also, I’m fast.  I don’t mean slightly fast, I mean I can catch up to my teammates even after they get a solid head start.  Teammates, coaches, and parents have always recognized me as a person who will never stop going.  This year, I got an award for this hard work.  I got an award that goes only to one person in the entire hockey club, and is awarded for leadership, dedication, and just being an overall good hockey player.  This award has been the highpoint of my hockey life, and when I got it, I felt like I had earned it, and that it was going to look great on my wall!

The warning signs of drug abuse or alcohol abuse may be easier to spot than you think. Teen drug abuse may be accompanied by teen depression and teenage suicide. This makes it a serious problem. However, some people do not realize the roll that drug abuse can play in teen suicide. It is important to understand that teen drug abuse can contribute to attempted suicide and to completed suicide.

Drug abuse is one of those things that can really affect the chemical balance in the brain, intensifying feelings of depression and sadness. Dependency on drugs, both legal and illegal, can lead to feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. The drug becomes increasingly necessary, both physically and mentally, and this can lead to unpleasant feelings associated with being out of control.

It is important to recognize the symptoms of teen drug abuse. Some of these indications include:

·  News friends (often of questionable character)

·  Increased secretiveness

·  Pulling back from family and friends

·  Paying less attention to appearance and hygiene

·  Dropping school grades

·  Lack of interest in extracurricular activities

Sometimes teen drug abuse is not the main cause of teen depression leading to teenage suicide. There are occasions that stresses and life events cause depression and contribute to teen drug abuse. Sometimes teens feel so depressed, and so overwhelmed with life, that they turn to drugs to help them feel better. This is known as self-medicating, and it can lead to teen drug abuse. This drug abuse can, in turn, lead to increasingly severe depression, which, if not treated, can result in teen suicide. Here are some factors that can trigger teen depression:

• Stressful situations at home, work or school
• Exposure to violence (mental, physical, sexual or emotional)
• Loss of a loved one
• Divorce of parents
• Change in economic or social situation
• Changing schools
• Moving to another town

Alcohol is the drug most commonly used among teens. While most teens say they disapprove of heavy drinking, teen alcohol abuse still occurs. Alcohol is one of the risk factors associated with teen suicide. Despite assertions by teens to the contrary, 80 percent of high school seniors have used alcohol at some point. However, most teens underestimate the problems that drinking alcohol can pose, and many of them do not even realize that it can contribute to depressive symptoms that can eventually result in teen suicide.

While teen alcohol abuse is not terribly rampant, it can contribute to teen depression and suicide. Here are some of the risk factors that can trigger alcohol abuse: 

• Mental and emotional problems; because emotional and mental disorders can be so stressful, many teenagers seek alcohol as a means of self-medication. When they drink alcohol, their problems seem to shrink. The initial euphoria that comes with the first stages of intoxication can be a welcome release from mental and emotional problems. 
• Family history; teenagers who have a family history of alcohol abuse are at risk of teen alcohol abuse. This is because addictions are partially genetic, and also because a teenager living in a home where alcohol is abused is exposed to alcohol on a regular basis, and often has the means to easily obtain it. 
• Family situation; stressful situation at home can lead to escapism through alcohol and, as a result, a developed dependency upon it. 
• Violence; teenagers who experience sexual, physical, mental or emotional violence, or who witness it regularly, can be more prone to teen alcohol abuse. Alcohol becomes a way to deal with the problems and to forget reality for a time.

Many teenagers, especially those who are subject to teen depression, feel as though they only feel “normal” when taking alcohol. Additionally, the changes that the body experiences while on alcohol are of a limited duration. When the “buzz” wears off, teenagers might feel even more depressed than they did before. These feelings can lead to suicidal thoughts, and even teen suicide attempts. Teens who recognize they have a dependency can begin to feel helpless, as though they will never escape their alcohol abuse. These feelings of hopelessness and increased depression can also lead to teen suicide. Teen alcohol abuse is one of the risk factors of teen suicide, and it is important to recognize the problems that an alcohol addiction can cause.

It is important to get help for teen alcohol abuse before it develops into a problem that can lead to destructive behaviors, including problems with holding a job, schoolwork, drug addiction, prolonged depression, and even teen suicide. There are many alcohol treatment problems geared toward helping teens overcome the addiction. Therapy is often a good idea in order to help teens work through depression and suicidal thoughts and feelings. This is especially important, as withdrawal symptoms associated with teen alcohol abuse can be quite severe and discouraging. Support and care by family and friends is essential to the treatment process.