When teens and young adults become depressed, they often feel lonely, and they feel as if no one cares about them or loves them. When they begin to feel this way they often start to seek out ways that they can cope and make the despair go away.

One very dangerous behavior that is very common in depression is having a risky sexual life in order to feel like the depressed person is loved and wanted by the opposite, or even the same sex. Depression causes young adults, mainly females, to have the mindset that if they have sex with a person it will mean that they are loved, or are cared for. Sadly, this is hardly ever true.

When these young women and even men engage in these risky sexual acts, with one or more partners, it can cause them to go into an even deeper depression once they realize that the other partner doesn’t always love them as they want them to. If you notice your child participating in risky sexual behaviors you need to seek help for them so that they can learn positive ways to get the feeling of being loved.