Depression in children and teenagers

Depression among children comes quietly and is very often unnoticed or mistaken for a low mood. Depression is not a bad mood or a bad day. It is an illness that causes suffering and affects the functioning in every sphere of life.

Children with depression often find it difficult to perform basic activities – they are exhausted , tired, complain of lack of energy, lose interest. According to the DSM-V classification, symptoms indicative of depression are those that persist every day for most of the day (for a minimum period of 2 weeks):

• low mood;
• decline in interests and the ability to feel pleasure;
• eat less than usual or overeat, changes in appetite;
• lack of sleep or excessive sleepiness;
• excessive agitation or psychomotor inhibition;
• fatigue and loss of energy;
• low self-esteem;
• excessive or inadequate guilt difficulties in maintaining concentration and decisiveness;
• recurrent thoughts of death, recurrent suicidal thoughts, suicide attempt or a specific plan to commit suicide among teenagers.

Children experience overwhelmingness, sadness, emptiness, fatigue, and anxiety that lasts most of the day. Children are dependent on adults. They often cannot name what is happening to them. It is up to us – adults, whether the child will receive support and if we notice these distressing symptoms. Let’s be careful.