image by: Anthony Tran on Unsplash

HWN Suggests

How to Spot Depression in Young Children

The best way for parents to recognize depression in young children is not so much by what a child says as by what the child does — or stops doing. Look for “significant changes in functioning,” Dr. Kovacs said, “if a child stops playing with favorite things, stops responding to what he used to respond to.” This might mean a child loses interest in the toys or games or jokes or rituals that used to be reliably fun or entertaining, or doesn’t seem interested in the usual back and forth of family life.

read full article

Featured

 Depression in Preschool Changes the Brain, Study Shows

Only in the past two decades has depression in children been taken seriously. Now, it’s becoming clear that kids as young as three can have major depression. That’s due largely to the work of Dr. Joan Luby, the director of the Early Emotional Development Program at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, who is credited with spurring the small but growing body of evidence that preschoolers can experience depression and be successfully treated.

Articles of Interest

'Our kids are not OK,' child psychiatrist Harold Koplewicz says

The founder of the Child Mind Institute explains why young people are experiencing unprecedented levels of anxiety and depression — and what parents can do about it. His book is Scaffold Parenting.

8-Year-Olds in Despair: The Mental Health Crisis Is Getting Younger

The number of children who need urgent mental health care has been on the rise for years, and spiked during the pandemic.

Anxiety and Depression in Children

Although fears and worries are typical in children, persistent or extreme forms of fear and sadness could be due to anxiety or depression.

Behavior: In Childhood Depression, Not the Usual Suspects

Contrary to researchers' expectations, dysfunctional family relationships and poor communication styles appear to have little effect on whether young children become depressed, a study has found. While many children under 5 exhibit symptoms of depression, they often have not been exposed to known risk factors, experts find. And many children who are exposed to those risk factors appear to be resilient.

Can Preschoolers Be Depressed?

Is it really possible to diagnose such a grown-up affliction in such a young child? And is diagnosing clinical depression in a preschooler a good idea, or are children that young too immature, too changeable, too temperamental to be laden with such a momentous label? Preschool depression may be a legitimate ailment, one that could gain traction with parents in the way that attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (A.D.H.D.) and oppositional defiant disorder (O.D.D.) — afflictions few people heard of 30 years ago — have entered the what-to-worry-about lexicon.

Childhood depression is on the rise, but we must be wary of misdiagnosis

Social pressures are fuelling the rise of mental health problems in children but we must ensure they are not wrongly diagnosed due to anxious parents.

Depressed Toddlers Are Helping Science Understand Mental Health

But then kids have a lot of pressures these days. They have to eat way more quinoa than I did when I was three. Even from nursery school they are put on a sort of educational factory line, with every B- on their handwriting homework another supposed nail in the coffin of their future career. Plus, we live in way more germaphobic times. How can you be happy if your mom won’t even let you poke a dead rat with a stick? If you find a dead rat, you should be able to poke it with a stick. That is the rules.

Depression in Childhood Tied to Physical Illnesses in Young Adulthood

Youths with depression had elevated risks of liver disease, thyroid illness and other problems in their 20s.

Depression in children

Children with depressive disorders lack interest in activities they previously enjoyed, criticise themselves, and are pessimistic or hopeless about the future. They may feel sad or irritable. Problems at school arise from indecision and difficulties with concentration. Depressed children tend to lack energy and have problems sleeping. They may have stomach aches or headaches. Morbid thoughts may progress to suicidal thinking and even suicide attempts.

Even Babies Can Be Depressed

For a long time, people didn’t believe that children could become depressed, but they certainly can

Exercise Can Help Children With Symptoms of Depression

Study suggests a potential avenue for improving mental health among kids.

Health: Kids And Depression

Suffering from severe depression yourself is bad enough. The smallest effort seems huge; feeling happy, or even content, is impossible to imagine. Things can get so bad that suicide may seem the only rational course. But it’s almost worse when your child is depressed. Watching someone you love go through such misery is agonizing. You would do anything to help.

Kids Today Face Surging Rates Of Anxiety, Depression

There is no question this is an anxious time. We're worried about our health, our families and our jobs. But for America's youngest generations, it comes after years of increasing stress. Depression and suicide rates among teens and kids have been doubling in recent years.

Kids with Depression Aren’t Getting the Help They Need

Timo Ewald was seven years old when he first realised that he was having less fun in life than the other kids in his class. While his classmates traded Panini stickers in the playground and made social plans, Timo spent the majority of his school years – from pre-school to graduation – alone.

More Children Are Depressed and Anxious. Is Social Media Really Behind It?

Lawmakers have proposed restrictions, but some scientists say it is hard to tell if they will help.

More Kids Are Being Screened for Anxiety, Depression. But Then What?

Families are grappling to understand a new wave of assessments and what to do if a problem surfaces.

Moving in Childhood Contributes to Depression, Study Finds

A study of more than a million Danes found that frequent moves in childhood had a bigger effect than poverty on adult mental health risk.

Pediatric depression: is there evidence to improve evidence-based treatments?

Although there have been advances in our ability to treat child and adolescent depression, use of evidence-based treatments still results in many patients with residual symptoms. Advances in our understanding of cognitive, emotional, and ecological aspects of early-onset depression have the potential to lead to improvements in the assessment and treatment of depression.

Recognizing and Addressing Childhood Depression

Being a kid should be a time of joy, growth, and learning. However, for some kids, it can also be a time of sadness. Childhood depression is a serious condition that can affect a child’s growth. Along with their academic performance and overall quality of life. That is why it is crucial for you as a parent or guardian to know the signs of childhood depression.

Should I Intervene With a Kid Who Says He Is Depressed?

My kid’s friend has always had behavior issues, but now he says he’s drinking alcohol to deal with sadness. Is it time to say something?

What It’s Like to Be Diagnosed With Depression at Eight Years Old

Looking back, the depression makes sense. As a child, while others would play, I’d isolate myself. I wasn’t the mischievous boy dads treasured, nor the Milkybar kid mums adored. I was, as a child, largely singular, hard to understand and frustratingly despondent. Clearly an anomaly when I started school, I was naturally bullied by the other kids.

Resources

Little Otter

Mental health care for your whole family. Families feel better when they work together —
so should their health care.

Anxiety and Depression Association of America

Rates of childhood depression have been rising in the last several years. Yet, information and awareness about childhood depression has not caught on at the same rate. Millions of people across the world wonder and doubt if children can get depressed.

StatPearls

The etiology of depression is multifactorial and complex resulting from interactions between biological vulnerabilities and environmental factors.