Depression in Children and Adolescents
What is depression?
Depression is the most common mental disorder, not only for adults, but for children and teenagers as well. The DSM-IV classifies depression as a mood disorder. It states that an individual has suffered a “major depressive episode” if certain symptoms persist for at least two weeks, including a loss of enjoyment in previously pleasurable activities, a sad or irritable mood, a significant change in weight or appetite, problems sleeping or concentrating, and feelings of worthlessness. These symptoms of depression fall into four categories: mood, cognitive, behavioral, and physical. Depression affects how individuals feel, think, behave, and how their bodies work. People with depression may experience symptoms in any or all of the categories, depending on personal characteristics and the severity of the depression (Ainsworth 2000).
Victims of depression often describe feelings of emptiness, hopelessness, unreasonable guilt, and profound apathy. Their self-esteem is usually low, and they may feel overwhelmed, restless, and irritable. The changes occurring with depression understandably result in alterations in behavior. Most individuals with moderate-to-severe depression will experience decreased activity levels and appear withdrawn and less talkative, although some severely depressed individuals show agitation and restless behavior, such as pacing the floor. “Depression is more than a mental illness. It is a total body illness (Curtis, p. 132)”.
Major depressive disorder, also know as clinical depression, is the serious and often disabling for of depression that can occur as a single episode or as a series of depressive episodes over a lifetime. A single episode may last as little as two weeks or as long as months to years (Mondimore, 1990). Some people will have only one episode with full recovery. Others recover from the initial episode only to experience another episode months to years later. There may also be clusters of episodes followed by years of remission.
Depression in Children
How do we determine whether children are depressed? All children feel unhappy from time to time. Sadness is a normal, natural response to many life events, from losing a soccer game or moving away from old friends to a death in the family. “Although when that sadness runs too deep, l...
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...Empfield, Maureen, & Bakalar, Nicholas. (2001). Understanding Teenage Depression.
New York: Henry Holt and Company, LLC.
Fassler, David, & Dumas, Lynne. (1997). Help Me I’m Sad.
New York: The Penguin Group.
McKnew, Donald, & Cytryn, Leon (1996). Growing Up Sad.
New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
McKnew, Donald, Cytryn, Leon, & Yahraes, Herbert (1983). Why Isn’t Johnny Crying?
New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Journals
Egger, Helen (2003, March). Recognizing and Treating Depression in Young Children.
The Brown University Child and Adolescent Behavior Letter, 1-3.
Hazell, Phillip (2003, February). Depression in Children and Adolescents.
American Family Physician. 577-579.
Weisz, John; & Hawley, Kristen. (2001) Child, Parent, and therapist Agreement on
Target Problems in Outpatient Therapy. University of California. 62-70.
Wingert, Pat; & Kantrowitz, Barbara. (2002, October) Young And Depressed.
Newsweek, 52-61.
Other Media
Films For the Humanities & Sciences (1991). Teen and Child Depression
[Videotape]. Princeton, NJ: Films For the Humanities & Sciences, Inc.
http://www.psychologynet.org/major.html
Major depressive disorder is a mood disorder characterized by the DSM-5 of depressed mood and markedly diminished interest or pleasure in nearly all activities occurring nearly every day, for most of the day, as indicated by a subjective self-report or an observational report from others. Individuals who have depression also tend to experience significant weight loss, insomnia or hypersomnia, psychomotor agitation, fatigue and loss of energy, feelings of worthlessness or excessive guilt, diminished ability to concentrate, and recurrent thoughts of death. Most people who suffer from depression usually experience major depressive episodes in unipolar major depression, while some others experience both depressive and manic episodes in bipolar
Depression is a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest (ManiMala, 2016), which can negatively affects how you feel, the way you think and how you act. Depression causes feelings of sadness and/or a loss of interest in activities once enjoyed, which can lead to emotional and physical problems and can decrease a person’s ability to function at work and at home (Parekh, 2015). The symptoms of depression can range from mild to severe and include: feeling sad or having a depressed mood, loss of interest or pleasure in activities once enjoyed, changes in appetite trouble sleeping or sleeping too much, loss of energy or increased fatigue, increase in restless activity, feeling worthless or guilty, difficulty thinking, concentrating or making decisions and thoughts of death or suicide (Weis,
This paper will focus on depressive disorders, and it will describe what they are, how they manifest themselves, what causes them and/or what makes certain individuals susceptible to the disorder as compared to others. This piece will also describe the most common treatment practices, and the effectiveness of these treatments. It will conclude by offering some testimonials from individuals who suffer from depressive disorders as well as some additional commentary about depressive disorders and their implications/challenges.
Why do we become happy, sad, mad, or upset? Why are some days good while others are bad? We smile, cry, laugh, frown and this is a continuous cycle throughout life. Individuals describe depression as a state of sadness and confusion that humans face, but in reality depression impacts much more than one’s mood or behavior. I strongly believe depression is a mental health disorder, one in which people of society need to take more serious. I have been struggling with depression for quite a few years, as well as, witnessing close family members and friends who also face the daily challenges depression brings alone. It is hard to read the news headlines, of the traumatic stories of suicide. These individuals cannot handle the overwhelming problems and stress life. Often, they have no one to explain how valuable life is, ways to help them through difficult situations, or most importantly, getting individuals professional counseling. In most cases it is not that others do not want to help those in need, but that they are unaware of what actions to take in order to provide that help. I plan to become a counselor, so I can be educated on the different emotional, physical, and social problems individuals deal with. The questions I propose are valuable for me to research, so I can inform society the importance of understanding depression. What are the different types of depression? How can depression affect an individual's appetite, sleep pattern, and health conditions? When is therapy counseling and medication needed for treating depression? What are the main experiences individuals face that trigger depression? How are ages affected by depression? What are coping skills for depression? I believe the information I gain from these sources wi...
Clinical depression goes beyond sadness or having a bad day. It is a form of mental illness that affects the way one feels, thinks, and acts. Depression in children can lead to failure in school, alcohol or other drug abuse and even suicide. The warning signs of depression fall into four different categories: emotional signs, cognitive signs (those involving thinking), physical complaints, and behavioral changes. Depending upon the degree of depression, a child may experience a few symptoms or many. Also, the severity of each symptom may vary. According to the CQ Researcher, "School
Depression is a mental illness in which a person experiences deep, stable sadness and discontinued interest in nearly all activities. People also use the term depression to describe the temporary sadness, loneliness, or blues that everyone feels from time to time. In contrast to normal sadness, severe depression, also called major depression, can dramatically lessen a person’s ability to function in social situations and at work. People with major depression often have feelings of despair, hopelessness, and worthlessness, as well as thoughts of committing suicide.
Major depressive disorder is more than just sadness; it is a mood disorder, which is characterized by feelings of hopelessness, depressed mood, and a reduced ability to enjoy life. The symptoms of depression fall into five categories: affective, motivational, cognitive, behavioral, and physical. People suffering from depression may experience several symptoms, for at least two weeks, in any or all of the above categories, depending on personal characteristics and the severity and type of depression. They generally have feelings of sadness, emptiness, pessimism, hopelessness, worthlessness or unreasonable guilt; lack of interest and pleasure in daily activities, reduced energy and vitality. The cognitive ability of the brain is also affected; thinking becomes slower, concentration becomes more difficult, memory lapses and problems with decision making become obvious. Individuals , may have difficulty going to sleep or experience early morning awakenings. Some other patients may feel an excessive need for sleep, and some may be troubled by dreams that carry the depressive tone into sleeping hours, causing abrupt awakening due to distress. Appetite changes are very frequent; a total loss of appetite is common and it is associated with weight loss. The same individuals who oversleep when depressed also tend to overeat. Finally, physical complaints are common and may or may not have a physical basis. Physical symptoms can occur in any part of the body and can include pain (headache, backache), gastrointestinal problems (nausea, stomach pain, diarrhea, and constipation), and neurologic complaints (dizziness, numbness, memory problems) as well as recurrent thoughts of death and contemplation of suicide.
Investigating Depression in Children During childhood years, children are almost as susceptible to being depressed as an adult. Many adults do not realize that being a child can be very frustrating, and they often feel powerless. Children can have a lot of stress in their lives and cannot deal with it as easily as adults. They are all adults. They have many concerns such as school, peers, parental.
The prevalence of depression in young children and adolescents today is astounding; one out of thirty three children suffer from depression. Shockingly, until fairly recently deprssion in small children was not established as a real disorder. Consequently, the scientific research needed to comprehend how children experience depression, the causes of their depression, and treatment options have emerged over the past twenty years. (the psychiatry depressed source book) &( Dubuque, S.(1998) . Depression is defined as a serious medical condition where a person is in a constant state of sadness, feels hopeless, and unimportant and often is unable to live in a normal way (merriam- webster.com) children who suffer from depression have constant feelings of sadness while similtaneously experience problems concentrating, have very little motivation, are often irratible, suffer from seperation anxiety and can even experience relentless physical pain like headaches and stomach pain which does not improve with treatment. Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
Childhood depression has only been recognized as a real clinical problem for about twenty-two years. Before that time, children that exhibited signs that are now recognized as depression were thought to be behavioral problems that the child would grow out of. Psychiatrists believed that children were too emotionally and cognitively immature to suffer from true depression. Childhood was thought to be a carefree, happy time, void of worry and concerns and therefore it was thought that their problems were not serious enough to merit depression. Traumas such as divorce, incest and abuse were not clearly understood how they could effect children in the long range. Childhood depression differs in many aspects from adult depression and widely went unrecognized academic performance, withdrawal and rejection of friends and favorite activities. Some exhibit hyperactivity, while others complain of fatigue and illness often. Many times these symptoms are thought to ‘be just a phase’ in their children, and overlooked as signs of depression.
Depression is defined as an illness; the feelings of depression persist and interfere with a child or adolescent’s ability to function. Depression can be a very difficult and painful experience that affects not only the individual suffering from it, but also the people around them. There comes a point in some peoples’ lives where social isolation, low energy, sadness, low self-esteem, and the feeling of hopelessness, cannot be taken anymore. The feelings are so strong and persistent, that the victim becomes severely unhappy, which can then result in depression. Clinical depression has many related symptoms trouble sleeping, eating disorders, withdrawal and inactivity, self-punishment, and loss of pleasure. People that are depressed do not like to do things they may usually like to. However, there are many differences between feeling depressed and actually suffering from depression, the disease. Any person feels depressed at some time or another in their life. They feel worthless, tired and tend to want to be alone without human interaction, this is normal. Depression brings on poor concentration or inability to think and make decisions (Kist 26). Surveys that have been taken that show approximately 20 in 100 people suffer from depression at any one time. About one if four Americans will suffer from a depression over the course of their lifetime. Depression strikes men and women of all ages, in all races, but most studies indicate that women are more often afflicted. Depression comes in many different types: major, manic and dysthymia are a few. A chronic, physical illness, drug habit, death of a loved one; or a problem in a marriage cause major depression. Even though most people with major depression will recover, half will suffer another episode (Hales 38). People with severe cases of major depression can’t work, study, or interact and eventually can’t feed, clothe or clean themselves (Hales 38).Manic depression is a type of depression that goes from a person being extremely happy and then becoming severely depressed (Kist 107). Being in a depressed state can be life threatening. People suffering from manic depression show many symptoms. A few major ones are hyperactivity; talking fast, inability, fear of dying, and jumping from one topic to another during a conversation (Kist 39). Another type is Psychoanalysis. Psychoanaly...
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a disorder of an individual that is undergoing repetitive patterns such as sadness, feeling of self worthlessness, thoughts or expression of suicide and self destruction. (www.teendepression.org). Depression can be spread through families if there is a history of depression. Detecting depression is not always easy to detect because in teens depression and normal teenage moodiness is hard to differentiate. Teens that suffers from depression can lead to failure in school, alcohol or and other drug use and even suicide. There are 15 to 20% of American teens that are involved in depression. (www.ezinearticles.com...
People with depression may oversleep or sleep for fewer hours. Depression also influences one’s energy levels, regardless of the amount of sleep. Some depressed people may become nervous and easily agitated, pacing rapidly or constantly fidgeting. Many experience extreme lethargy, losing motivation and will to carry on. An incredibly common feeling is depression is the feeling of a burden too great. This may be standards of other people, social anxiety, or traumatic experiences. Depressed people may also have difficulty thinking, poor concentration, and problems with memory. The feelings of worthlessness, helplessness, guilt, and self-blame are those among the most commonly recorded. This leads to the major influence of depression on the world, suicidal thoughts and actions. At least fifteen percent of seriously depressed people commit suicide, successfully. In return, ninety percent of people who kill themselves have depression or a mental illness in relation to depression. In some severe cases, people with depression experience psychotic symptoms, including delusions and
Depression is a murky pool of feelings and actions scientists have been trying to understand since the days of Hippocrates, who called it a "black bile." It has been called "the common cold of mental illness and, like the cold, it's difficult to quantify. If feelings of great sadness or agitation last for much more than two weeks, it may be depression. For a long time, people who were feeling depressed were told to "snap out of it." According to a study done by National Institute of Mental Health, half of all Americans still view depression as a personal weakness or character flaw. Depression, however, is considered a medical disorder and can affect thoughts, feelings, physical health, and behaviors. It interferes with daily life such as school, friends, and family. Clinical depression is the most incapacitating of all chronic c...
Major Depression is a type of depression that makes you lose interest in activities you usually enjoy, you have lack energy, trouble concentrating, you change your eating and sleeping habits, you become extremely sad most of the time and have thoughts of suicide. You will probably be diagnosed sooner, if you suffer from this, because in a short amount of time you will be a completely different person, if you’re usually a happier person in general. In order to be diagnosed these symptoms...