Is My Child Depressed?

Not many people recognise the degree of the sad extent of depression in young people.

Juvenile depression is largely assumed to be a relatively atypical thing. In reality though, childhood anxiety and depression is one of the most persistent problems in our community today.

When full-blown depression hits a boy or girl it is a crushing disease. It stops children from developing normally, delays their social interactions, and even complicates their learning. Depressed little ones do poorly in school, which inevitably lays a foundation for doing poorly in later years.

Therefore, if you are the mum or dad of a depressed youngster, you have to do everything in your power to treat the problem early on. Depression in young children is correctable, and in numerous ways it is more straightforward to deal with than depression in fully-grown persons.

Children are, by definition, immature, and so their minds are pliable. If their depression can be identified early, they can learn new ways of thinking much more simply than grown-ups can, but the more time their depression is allowed to grow, the more difficult it will be to remedy.

There are a lot of different causes of depression in girls and boys, and it isn't always simple to identify a particular cause of the disease. Children's depression can be caused by environmental factors, biological factors, a traumatic event, or simply by a perceived incompetence to cope with a difficult circumstance in life - a new teacher, difficulty making real friends, etc.

Childhood depression can extend from minor to severe. A lot of the time, the more minor depression in boys and girls can actually turn out to be more challenging than the severe form, as severe depression is more likely to be identified as an illness and treated, whereas a minor depression will be overlooked and the child simply diagnosed as 'moody by nature'. The likely effect of course is that the child's depression continues to mature into later life and can become a life-long problem.

There are various techniques for managing children depression. It principally depends on the specific nature of the condition. Nevertheless, there are some established methods that seem to work for most young children that don't involve the use of drugs at all.

One of the most popular of these methods is the use of sporting acitivities. It may seem obvious, but a lot of children don't get enough exercise, which can intensify depression, anxiety, attention deficit disorder, and other childhood diseases. While not normally being a complete cure, introducing a sporting or exercise routine can make a massive difference in a depressed child's life.

Even more essential than any physical exercise though is therapy. Therapy can take place in a one-on-one session with a trained counsellor, or it can take place in a communal therapeutic environment. Special camps for girls and boys suffering from depression and related sicknesses have proven very successful, and may have less stigma attached in the mind of the young person entering therapy.

Of course, nothing can be more effective to a depressed or anxious kid than a loving family and a stable home environment. Often times young children who show signs of minor or severe depression are not showing signs of a neurosis at all, as their agony is very realistically rooted in a tumultuous and painful home life. For this reason, no evaluation of possible mental illness in a child should ever be undertaken without a thorough investigation of the state of affairs at home.