Your child is 3 years old was not as cheerfully as usual, he did not ‘nosy’ when morning came, it is not impossible he also refused to eat.
Instead of joking with his brothers, or drawing in his book, he tends to be on the edge of the window, staring blankly out, maybe a toddler suffering from depression?
Like most other people, you might assume that preschoolers are too small to feel sad. But there are recent studies that clinical depression was found not know the age. Depressed – even suicidal – as influential in infants and adolescents as in adults.
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine, suggested that the children experience the same symptoms as depression are often found in adults, even at the level of severity. According to the National Mental Health Association, one of three children in America suffer from depression. However, despite the talk about statistics, depression is a disease that remains undetected and untreated among children and adolescents.
Unlike the red spots on measles disease, or a red nose on the flu, symptoms of depression is not too concrete, and as a consequence, this is often not detected by parents.
What are the signs of childhood depression? What are the behaviors that need to be supervised by a parent? Usually the children who suffer persistent depression is always disturbed, withdrawn and lethargic, said Dr. Elizabeth Rody, medical director and child and adolescent psychiatrist for Magellan Behavioral Health in New Jersey.
Children with depression also lose interest in activities previously done so they like, while other symptoms include:
- Crying constantly and persistent sadness
- Lack of enthusiasm or motivation
- Increased anger
- Chronic fatigue or lack of energy
- Pulling away from family, friends and activities that had been favored
- Change your eating habits and sleep (an increase or decrease in body weight evident, likes to sleep, sleeplessness)
- Complaints are very often about physical problems, such as abdominal pain or dizziness
- Lack of concentration and forget
- Feelings of worthlessness or excessive guilt
- Excessive sensitivity to rejection or failure
- The development of a pending major (in toddlers – not walking, talking or expressing self)
- Play that involves violence, either to self or others, or with a sad theme.
- Most come talk about death or suicide.
It is not unusual for children to continue to feel sad from time to time. By knowing this, how can parents distinguish normal fluctuations in mood from serious depression? The answer is in the duration of the depressive behavior.
According to Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General, children with depression episodes of depression that usually last from seven to nine months, although some child development experts who say that the depressive behavior that persists for more than two weeks requires further investigation.
But somehow, the best is to let the professionals in the mental health section to decide.
Depression is not the only reason for the behavior of ‘naughty’ children. Physiological problems, such as malnutrition, mononucleosis, allergies and other diseases can cause an angry mood, anger, fatigue and withdrawal. This is why Rody emphasizes that parents should take their child to the family doctor first, before making an appointment with a mental health professional.
If your child was not a public health problem, then the next step is to make an appointment with a psychiatrist or a child and adolescent psychologist for evaluation. In addition to the series of psychological tests and blood work, parents must also be prepared to review the entire history of child health.
Although the exact causes of childhood depression is not well known, studies of depression in adults state that depends on genetic predisposition and environmental influences. “Some of the environmental and genetic,” said Rody. “When compared between depression with heart disease. You can have a history of heart disease in families and at the same time you do not maintain your lifestyle. They may cause you a heart attack. Depression is like that, caused by a complex combination of various factors. ”
Children who are parents or/and his brother suffered from depression are more likely to develop symptoms of this disease. Learning Disabilities, such as inability to concentrate/hyperactivity, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and dyslexia are also contributing to the incidence of childhood depression. Environmental factors that make children suffer from depression at risk include physical abuse, sexual, and verbal, displaced children and a history of drug use in the family.
Divorce and the loss of a loved one can also cause emotional instability in children, but not always a cause of depression.
While your child had a toddler, her emotions are very real. Experts believe that the more parents pay attention to her feelings, so much the better ability to seek help in depression. “If your child says, ‘I am very sad and wanted to jump from the window’, you should look at these words seriously,” said Rody warned.
Ask your child these things below to find the cause of your child’s grief:
- What happened today that you are sad?
- What makes you happy?
- What are you looking for?
- What do you want to happen to you?
- If you can change yourself, what would you change?
Care for children and adolescents who suffer from depression include a combination of individual psychotherapy and family counseling. To be optimal, according to Rody, therapy should involve parents, relatives and people that are important in the child’s life, such as teachers and grandparents.
Other treatments include play therapy, ongoing evaluation and in some cases, using drugs. Antidepressants are often used to treat cases of secondary depression. What is important, too, has not been allowed to give anti-depressants in children under the age of 8 years.
Tags: Depression
