My speech on depression

So I am in public speaking at college and my first informative speech is tuesday. I've decided to talk about depression. I know.. its depressing.. but I kinda want people to know the symptoms and so they can get help or at least understand it better. Heres basically what i'll be saying:

I am here to tell you that you are worthless, hopeless, and helpless. You are nobody, and your existence means nothing. I will suck the energy and motivation out of you, until you no longer want to get out of bed in the morning. I will affect every single one of your lives, whether it is through a loved one, such as your mom, your uncle, or your best friend. Or some of you will experience me first hand. I have killed many people each year, and I don’t discriminate based on age, gender, race, skin color, gender, or religion. Who am I? I am depression.

Depression isn’t something to take lightly. Three of my friends lost their battle with depression and paid the ultimate price: their lives, through suicide. And although it may not always lead to suicide, I can tell you from personal experience that depression is a debilitating illness that can negatively affect you mentally and physically.

Depression negatively affects a person mentally. A sad feeling is the most common and most widely known symptom of depression, but it’s not the only symptom. Another symptom is a feeling of worthlessness, which cause thoughts that you have no purpose, and that your life is not valuable. Hopelessness and helplessness can make you feel like the depression will never go away and that you shouldn’t seek help because there is nothing that will help you. Depression also causes a loss of motivation to do daily tasks and a loss of pleasure or enjoyment in hobbies and activities you used to enjoy. It can also cause loss of concentration.

Depression negatively affects a person physically. Some people experience a decreased appetite, which can result in weight loss. This can create problems such as anorexia and vitamin deficiencies. On the other hand, other people will experience an increase in appetite, causing weight gain. The problem with this is obesity, which can cause joint pain and stress on the heart. It can also lead to diabetes and hypertension. Depression can also cause widespread pain throughout your body. And it can even weaken the immune system, making you more prone to illness.

So as you can see, depression is not just sadness. It can negatively affect you mentally, through feelings of worthlessness, hopelessness, and helplessness, cause loss of motivation and poor concentration. It can affect you physically through changes in weight, sleep patterns, and lower your immune system. But even though depression can cause you to feel helpless and hopeless, there is always help, and there is always hope.


So what do you think??

I really, really liked your introduction. Maybe you could end your speech by talking about what type of help is available (therapy, medications, or maybe even the resources on your campus, in case your topic impacts one of the other students in your class), if you have the time to fit it into your speech?

Nice. I really liked the opening sentence. It's a real attention grabber.

The introduction is a great attention-grabber, although consider adding a few things. For example, when you explain the symptoms of depression, mention they're in the DSM-IV-TR, although you don't need to explain the entire diagnostic criteria. Also, you mentioned depression is prevalent but it would be more informative if you found results from a survey (the larger the sample size the better, so look for national ones). A good source would be the National Depression Survey (note: pdf document). These are just to add a bit more power to your speech and make it informative.

Nicely done!
Did they say how long it needs to be to be sure to practice timing outloud if this is one of the criteria and make changes accordingly. If you have the time, adding something about the resources for help such suicide hotlines or counseling services on campus would be beneficial to round it out.
Be sure to practice speaking it outloud in preparation.
Good work and love the opening; the whole thing was well done, flowing beautifully!

Great topic for folks to hear about! It is a serious issue. As other folks said, your beginning is very attention-getting!

That is very good. I love the introduction. It is going to make people wonder what your talking about so they are going to want to listen to find out what you are talking about. Someone else has said this but maybe end your speech with where people can get help in your town incase someone in that class is suffering from depression other than you.

Thanks guys I got a 94% on it

I just knew you could do it. What a great way to start the class and the semester. Should give you confidence going into your next one. I am very proud of you.

Fantastic work! Congrats on your grade!

awsome.... well done!

i've never been a pubblic speaker, could never really do it- in front of so many people so i'm proud of you

Yes, I like it very well but would maybe do more on how to get help (or, find some brochures at your doctor's office and throw in a line about, "if you'd like to know more, I have brochures here. . ." and hold them up, offer them).

Congrats on the great grade! Plus I'm glad you taught your audience about a very important topic.