Childhood Depression

One of the most common psychological disorders is depression and just like adults, children also suffer from this disorder which is also known as childhood depression. According to depression statistics, depression is a serious problem among children of age group of 4 to 12. For them it is hard to understand their feelings and translate. So they are unable to express their problems or depression. So, elders have to notice and recognize the symptoms of childhood depression very carefully.

Signs and Symptoms of Childhood Depression:

Symptoms of childhood depression are unlike adult depression. So elders have to understand the behavior and symptoms of a child to help them. Following are the signs and symptoms of childhood depression:

• Sadness : Children cry very often and for petty issues. They feel hopeless and powerless. Also feel discouraged and quit very easily.
• Aggressive : They become bad tempered, irritated and easily annoyed. They may start shouting or burst out with anger.
• Loss of Interest : They quit playing, do not talk to other kids and want to be alone. They get bored and loose interest in daily activities. This may result in poor performance in school and sports.
• Physical problems : Child may complain of regular problems in health like headache, fatigue, loss of energy etc.
• Tensed : Child become much tensed, start panicking and reacts negatively.
• Change in Routine : This may increase or decrease their appetite and their sleep habits might get disturbed.
• Some of the most serious signs are use of drugs, abusing or suicidal thoughts.

These are the major signs and symptoms of childhood depression which will help you to recognize the depression in your child and cure him. However for such critical depression symptoms you have to know about the reason so that you can handle the child easily and cure him fully.

Reasons of Childhood Depression

Here are some of the major reasons of childhood depression which will help parents to understand the problem completely:

• Genetic : If both or any parent has any anxiety or depression disorder it may lead to childhood depression in their child.
• Environment : One of the major reasons of childhood depression are separation of parents, sexual assault, death in family etc. family environment plays very critical role in handling and taking care of a child.
• Poor Self-Confidence : Child feels neglected and afraid to talk and express himself.
• Homesickness : if child stays away from home and family then they feel homesick which sometimes leads to depression.
• In some cases hormonal change or side effect of some other medicine also causes depression.

Treatment for Childhood Depression:

There are a large number of treatments and approaches to cure the depression in children. After understanding all the symptoms, signs and causes you can easily choose any of the approaches according to the reasons for childhood depression of your child.

Basically there are two types of approaches:

• Psychotherapy
• Medication

Psychotherapy

Various types of psychotherapies are implemented. These different approaches have different patterns to cure patients. Here are some of the therapies:

• Cognitive-behavioral therapy
• Family therapy
• Interpersonal therapy
• Play therapy
• Group therapy

Other than this encourage your child to go for camps, physical exercise, meditation etc. And give them a protective and open environment. Try to talk to them and share their thoughts. These small activities will help your child get a lot of strength to fight childhood depression.

Medication

There are several antidepressant tablets which are available in the market but only some of the medicines are approved for the children. Prefer medicines in the case of major childhood depression. Prozac, Zoloft, Luvox are some of the common and approved medicines for OCD in children. But before medication concern your psychiatrist and physician if the medication is correct for your child. Never stop medication in between, this could be risky.

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