Children are affected by depression too
Clinical depression may affect many of us at some time in our lives; but who would have thought or wanted to believe it can also affect children of any age. Clinical depression can affect your daily life and make you feel totally worthless and useless; maybe children’s suffering from depression isn’t as documented as it is with adults; as we just do not want to believe that a child could suffer from such a threatening and horrible disease at such a young age. The truth is children are just as vulnerable if not more so to depression than we are; a child’s best time of their lives is their childhood; don’t let depression spoil that for them and for you.
Some symptoms of clinical depression in children are the same as those with adults such as;
- Becoming easily confused
- Becoming easily anxious and frightened
- Having no motivation
- Feelings of sadness for no apparent reason
- Crying at anything and everything
- No enthusiasm especially to things that they used to love
- Easy to become bored
- Feelings of hopelessness
- Feelings of fretfulness
- Becoming more and more isolated
- Not wanting to join in activities they would have previously loved to do
There are other such signs you need to look out for in children that may be suffering from depression and these are as follows;
- Child becoming more and more irritable at the slightest of things
- The child may become quite hostile; even with loved ones
- Start performing badly at school; especially if they were always good to start with
- Difficultly making new and keeping old relationships
- Eating and sleeping patterns may change dramatically
- Becoming rebellious at every opportunity
- Extremely low self worth and esteem
- Wanting or trying to run away from home
- Possibly even become suicidal
The scariest thing about children becoming suicidal; is that they do not fully understand the consequences of such actions; they may know what to do; but they may not realize of they do that they may end up in hospital or not come back at all. Children do not understand the implications of such acts like suicide. For older children they may fully understand all the implications of committing suicide and they may want to act on their feelings. Try to combat this by having an open and frank relationship with your children from the word go; if they feel they can come to you about anything; they will more than likely come to you about how they feel. Just remember to be sympathetic not angry; they need love not scorn.
There are many things that can cause depression in children; bullying, a loss of a family member, even the loss of a beloved family pet. Children don’t really understand the feelings they are experiencing; especially if they are still very young; explain them in their language so they can understand and remind them that you are always there for them and seek professional help if matters do not improve. |
