Many of the parents I work with are concerned that their children could be depressed. In this article you can find some simple ways to identify whether there is cause for concern.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, mood disorders affect approximately 7.6 percent of children ages 8-15 and 14 percent of adolescents. Major Depressive Disorder and Dysthymic Disorder are two common mood disorders seen in our youth. Major Depressive Disorder is characterized by intense symptoms of depression that last for about 2 weeks at a time. Dysthymic Disorder is more of a low-grade depression in which symptoms are present for a minimum of one year.
Childhood depression can be caused by organic and/or environmental factors. Furthermore, symptoms can be exacerbated or created by trauma or major stressors.
The first thing I do in assessing for depression in children is to identify how they have been functioning in their home, school, and social settings. Sudden changes in the way children function in these settings can be indicators of depression. Often the first sign of depression for children is a decline in grades, poor concentration in class, isolative or acting out behavior in school or with siblings, lack of interest in activities they previously enjoyed, or difficulty sleeping.
The major difference in signs of depression in adult versus youth is in how the symptoms are exhibited. While adults more often display sadness and hopelessness, children and adolescents often appear more irritable, grouchy, and angry. Since children’s cognitive and verbal skills are not fully developed, they often have more somatic symptoms than adults, meaning that they have physical manifestations of their feelings. Often depressed children will have more stomachaches, headaches, and muscle aches than other children their age. Many parents dismiss their children’s physical symptoms, especially after they have taken their child to the doctor who has found nothing wrong with them. However, don’t ignore these symptoms or assume your child is lying! Many times these unexplainable physical symptoms are simply signs of emotional problems.
Here are the major signs to look out for if you are concerned about your child being depressed:
- sad or irritable mood most days
- diminished pleasure in activities
- unexplained weight loss or weight gain
- poor appetite or overeating
- difficulty sleeping
- unusual fatigue
- diminished ability to concentrate
- feelings of hopelessness
- low self-esteem
- thoughts of self-harm
If your child or someone you know has expressed thoughts and plans for suicide, please contact the Psychiatric Evaluation Team (800 854-7771) or 911 immediately.
If your child exhibits any of the listed symptoms, please find therapy in your community to address it before it worsens. Here is a list of links to mental health agencies in Los Angeles:
211- 411 for social services in Los Angeles
Comments
Great article Jessica, and one that needs to be addressed and re-addressed often. When my father passed away almost two years ago, my son at the time was 8 years old and he was extremely close to my father in fact he saw him just about every day and they did all kinds of fun things together. When my dad got cancer and finally did pass away, my son had witnessed this once strong fun man, slowly get weaker and sicker and then pass away. My son had lost his poppy (that’s what he called him), and yet never shed a tear, once and still has not. My son for six months just as you described above was irritable, started not doing well in School and seemed down and unhappy. He by all means was depressed. When I asked him about how he felt all he would say is that if he thought about his poppy he would explode, so he pushed the feelings away. I was so sad myself that it took me about three months to come to terms with my sons own grief and work with him through it, which we did. He is not longer depressed and we even talk about good memories about my dad now, but if I did not do all of the things for my son at that time, it could have lead to deeper problems, so thank-you for bring up this very real problem.
Thank you for sharing your story and I am so sorry to hear about your loss. Death is so difficult to deal with for families in particular because it often effects the adults making it harder for them to be fully present for their children. This is so common and not discussed enough. Parents have feelings too and it is important to take care of them for two important reasons: 1) to model for children how to appropriately manage feelings and 2) coping with your own feelings so that you are ale to eventually be there for your child. It sounds like what your family experienced was more along the lines of grief, rather than full blown depression. It is normal and even expected to have signs similar to depression for several months following a death or major loss. If these symptoms persist for what seems to be an unreasonable amount of time, then it would be considered crossing over into depression. Sometimes this happens because the child or individual has not been able to adequately process or accept the loss. So glad that you and your son are feeling better!
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