Rethink

Depression. Currently it is everywhere; the awareness of the problem is becoming common knowledge. Simply googling the term brings hundreds of results, bookshops are full self-help books and almost all of us know somebody who experienced some type of depression or experienced it themselves. It is recognised as a major area in public health. It has serious consequences in all areas of life: familial, occupational, educational, romantic and even leisure.

There is, however, one type of depression that is not commonly known about. Not only adults become depressed, children and adolescents also can become depressed. Only recently, however, consensus developed identifying depressive disorder as entity in children and adolescents that can be identified  using criteria similar to those used for adults (APA, 2000, Dubovsky, Davies & Dubovsky, 2003).

The prevalence of significant depression among all children is 5% and 10-20% among adolsecents at some point in time (Avenevoli et al., 2008).

The way children and teenagers experience and display signs of depression differ from depressed adults.

Parents, teachers and other adults should seek help from professionals if they observe sings such as:

-Frequent sadness, tearfulness, crying

-Decreased interest and motivation

-Inability to enjoy previously favourite activities

-Persistent boredom

-Lack of energy and poor concentration

-Frequent complaints about headaches and other physical illnesses such as stomach-aches

-Changes appetite, eating behaviour and sleep pattern

-Talk of running away and actual running away from home

-Thoughts or expressions of suicide and/or self-harm

-Plus: irritability, crankiness, grouchiness, moodiness, easily upset and short-fused.

All in all, depression in young people and children involve numerous and persistent symptoms, including impairments in mood, behaviour, attitudes, cognition and physical functioning.  Additionally, symptoms change with age and some are characteristic for certain development stages.

Infants: feeding problems, tantrums, lack of playfulness and emotional expressiveness .

Ages 3-5: accident proneness, phobias, excessive self-reproach for minor infractions.

Ages 6-8: physical complaints, aggressive behaviour, clinginess to parents and avoidance of new people and challenges.

Ages 8-12: morbid thoughts, excessive worrying.

Additional symptoms  may include hyperactivity, delinquency, school problems, psychosomatic complaints, sleeping and eating disturbances, social isolation, suicidal thoughts or actions (Townsend, 2006).

Depression may be even more difficult to recognise in an adolescent than in a child. Feelings such as anxiety, loneliness and sadness are often perceived as typical of the emotional changes during growing up and adolescence. Unfortunately, because of that often the symptoms go unattended. Depression is the major cause of suicide in this age group (NCHS, 2004). It is important to spot the difference between typical difficult behaviour of teenage years, the major indicator is behavioural change that lasts for weeks and is unusual to the individual, eg. Normally outgoing teenager than suddenly has become antisocial and withdrawn (Townsend, 2006).

Symptoms of depression in adolescents include: inappropriately expressed anger, aggressiveness, running away, delinquency, social withdrawal, sexual acting out, substance abuse, restlessness, apathy, loss of self-esteem, sleeping and eating disturbances and psychosomatic complaints (Townsend, 2006).

However, Townsend (2006) further points out that in adolescence depression is a common manifestation of the stress and independence conflicts associated with normal maturation process.

I hope you find this short introduction interesting.
Another important thing to notice is that pharmacological treatment is not advised when treating children; and Fluoxetine (Prozac) is currently the only medicine approved to treat depression in children and adolescents. Other SSRIs have not been approved for treatment by the FDA. However, it has to be considered if medicating children and young people with powerful and dangerous psychiatric drugs is a necessary measure (I will be writing later on about medicating children as young as 4 who have diagnoses of ADHD, OCD and bi-polar stuck to them). I suggest further reading on the subject: ‘Should you medicate your child’s mind?’ by Dr E. Roberts.

Credit to: Tina Phillips