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
Empirical evidence shows that that depression disorder in children is a common condition that affects emotional, physical, and social development. Risk factors include parental conflict, a family history of depression, poor peer relationship, negative thinking, and deficit in coping skills. Treatment criteria of children and adults are the same, with the exception that children may display irritability rather than depressed or sad mood, and loss of weight may be seen as a failure gain appropriate weight milestones. Diagnosis and treatment should take into account developmental stage, suicidality, severity of depression, and social and environmental factors. The recommended therapies for mild depression
Most people think that sadness and depression are terms refer to the same emotional disorder level. In fact, sadness is the behavior that occurs as a result of facing some difficulties in our daily life and it is usually continues for a couple of days. While depression is a serious mental illness that happen due to the continual feeling of sadness that persist for weeks, months and even years. Depression can affect people from all ages, in 1975, the National Institute of Mental Health announced that depression is no longer considered “an adult disease,” it can also affect people at young age. Depression among children is very common in the recent years , according to the National Comorbidity Survey examination in 2010, the depressive
Depression- the most diagnosed mental illness in the world- is also the most misunderstood. Depression?a sad or discontented mood?can leave a person feeling lethargic, unmotivated, or hopeless, and in some cases ? contemplate suicide. Unfortunately, depression usually begins as high levels of anxiety and with exposure to trauma in children. Higher levels of anxiety or exposure to stress-inducing and traumatic situations as a child could mean an increased risk of depression as an adult. Although a serious mental illness all over the world in
The article also shows that depressed teens usually suffer for many years before they are identified. Even some adults who work with kids (teachers, coaches, pediatricians) can misread the signs of early depression. Even by professional doctors, those signs or symptoms are often mistaken for mononucleosis or chronic-fatigue syndrome. Also, finding the right help can be as difficult as identifying the kids who need help.
When kids have mood changes they can lose friends and lose trust if they spend their day being grumpy and crabby all day. Also, when kids become depressed people will want to be around that negative energy and that students’ could lose friends as well. Students could also become overweight and pick up more health problems such as, heart disease, different types of cancer, and diabetes which could cause serious health issues.
Depression can be cause if child feels rejected by peers or have problems with sexual identity.
Depression in children stem from a variety of factors relating to health, history, life events, genetic vulnerabilities, family history, and biochemical imbalances. Every individual shows different symptoms when suffering from depression; however, these symptoms interfere with the child’s daily living at school and home. Psychotherapy and medication are the most common treatments for children with depression (Depression in
Depression. One of the most studied categories of mental illness (Muller & Erford, 2012). It can be expressed through a multitude of symptoms including loss of interest, sleep, low self-esteem, eating disorders, social isolation, fatigue, self-defeating impulses, and crying (Masip et al. 2010). Depression not only affects adults; but children and adolescents as well. In fact, it is the most common mental illness affecting children and adolescents (Huang & Dong, 2014). Depression affects 2.5% of children and 8.3% of adolescents (Huang
One thing that can cause depression is a perfectionistic personality ("ReachOut.com."). With all the stress that comes along with trying to perfect every practice can possibly depress a child. Children are supposed to be having fun playing with friends on playdates and concentrating on school work not getting first place at a beauty pageant where they learn nothing beneficial to them.
There are three types of depression. They three types are major depression, dysthymic disorder or dysthymia and minor depression. Major depression is when it severe symptoms begin to affect your abilities to complete activities of daily living and your ability to enjoy work. Dysthymic disorder or dysthymia is when the depression last longer than 2 years but the symptoms do not always interfere like they do in major depression. Finally, “minor depression is similar to the first two but the symptoms are less severe and does not last as long. (NIHM, 2011)” Depression can occur from adolescents through latter years. Elderly people may experience depression, yet depression is not a normal part of the aging
Depression is a disorder that can happen to anyone. It occurs more frequently with age and it is not seen in children as much as it is seen in teenagers and adults. When an individual is depressed, they experience sadness, hopelessness, low energy, lethargy, sleep changes, loss of interest, appetite changes, agitation, and many other symptoms. This can happen for many reasons, even by being around someone who suffers from depression. In the article Biased Processing of Emotional Information in Girls at Risk for Depression, by Jutta Joormann, Lisa Talbot, and Ian H. Gotlib, it is mentioned how daughters are at high risk of becoming depressed if their mothers are suffering from Major Depression Disorder (MDD). A study was done to see if the cognitive theory was true and there were many tests that were done in order to prove its validity.
Depression has been a disorder that affects emerging adults. Most adults have encountered some forms of depression in their lives. The most heartbreaking problems were that it could not be cured, but it could be managed. It could manifest at any point in life. For most people, they started to show some signs of depression in high school. For example, when I met my friend called John Walcott on our senior year at Lincoln high school. His parents were going through divorce. He was sad in class and sometimes burst into tears. He walked out of class. I followed him and he told me that he felt guilt about his parent’s divorce and it was his fault. I told him that most children thought that they are the reason of their parents to sect apart, but
There are many kinds of depression which children, same as adults, can suffer from. Some of these episodes of depression can last from weeks and others are chronic, mild to moderate depression like dysthymia (Edwards). ‘’Depression may also be part of other mood problems like bipolar disorder, as a consequence of psychosis.” Drugs can also play a role in depression in people when they experience withdraw. There are many forms of depression, but childhood depression is one that is more complex.
Depression a word we’re familiar with especially when it comes to adults, we know adults get depress and we understand the reasons, with the high demands in life it’s not uncommon to get lost in the shuffle. Depression in adult is something we have known for many years, but what has surprised many of us is that adolescents also get depressed. I myself still don’t fully understand the reasons why or how this happens. I see it very often adolescent coming in to the ER because they are depressed and want to hurt themselves, and each and every single time I’m shock. What could be so bad in their lives that would make them think they have no way out? This is the reason why I choice this topic, I want to learn more of how this disease affects so many children and teens and what we can do to stop it.