Depression Among Kids
Children also suffer from Depression. Just because a child seems depressed or sad, does not necessarily mean they have depression. Childhood depression is different from the normal “blues” and everyday emotions that occur as a child develops. But if these symptoms become persistent, disruptive, and interfere with social activities, interests, schoolwork and family life, it may indicate that he or she has the medical illness called depression. Keep in mind that while depression is a serious illness, it is also a treatable one.
The child who is depressed may pretend to be sick, refuse to go to school, cling to a parent, or worry that the parent may die. Older children may sulk, get into trouble at school, be negative, grouchy, and feel misunderstood. Only in the past two decades has depression in children been taken very seriously.
Unfortunately, these disorders often go unrecognized by families and physicians alike. Signs of depressive disorders in young people often are viewed as normal mood swings typical of a particular developmental stage. In addition, health care professionals may be reluctant to prematurely “label” a young person with a mental illness diagnosis. Yet early diagnosis and treatment of depressive disorders are critical to healthy emotional, social, and behavioral development.
Additionally children and young adolescents with depression may experience difficulty in identifying and describing their internal emotional state. For instance, instead of communicating how bad they feel, they may act out and be irritable toward people around them, which may be interpreted simply as disobedience. Research has found that parents are even less likely to identify major depression in their adolescents than are the adolescents themselves.
There are varying degrees of depression in children. The primary symptoms of depression revolve around sadness, a feeling of hopelessness, and mood changes. It is often undiagnosed and untreated because they are passed off as normal emotional and psychological changes that occur during growth. Early medical studies focused on “masked” depression, where a child’s depressed mood was evidenced by acting out or angry behavior. While this does occur, particularly in younger children, many children display sadness or low mood similar to adults who are depressed.
In children ages 3 through 5, the most common emotional signs of depression are sadness, a detached or far away look, displays of anger and aggression, a timid or fearful appearance, shyness, a spacey look, moodiness and irritability. Young children who are depressed may have physical symptoms that are unexplainable such as headaches, stomach aches, cramps, nausea, failure to thrive, wetting the bed, asthma, tiredness, difficulties getting to sleep, and nightmares. They may display aggressive behaviors, such as hitting or fighting, or may suddenly start lying or stealing.
The depressed adolescent may express the perception that they are not liked or accepted by their peers and they are unloved by their family. Prompt identification and treatment of depression can reduce its duration and severity and associated functional impairment. Adolescents are more likely to verbalize their negative beliefs about themselves than are younger children. They may perceive that they are unable to fit in with their peers. This may be associated with self-derogatory thoughts and verbalization regarding their intelligence, physical appearance, or attractiveness to others. While the recovery rate from a single episode of major depression in children and adolescents is quite high, episodes are likely to recur. In addition, youth with dysthymia disorder are at risk for developing major depression.
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