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How to manage depression in children and adolescents?
It is hard to believe that children can have feelings of hopelessness and even depression. However, it is common for children and adolescents to have some stage of depression before 19.
In fact, the most common cause of death for children ages 10 and up to age 24 is suicide.
This is a real problem that should not be dismissed by the popular belief that children are happy no matter what.
Since many times dysfunctional environments, whether at home or at school, affect our children deeply, and we should not turn a blind eye to it.
What are the warning signs?
Childhood depression does not present in the same way in all children, so we leave you an extensive list of warning signs that your child may present and to which you should be aware:
Feelings of sadness or hopelessness.
Irritability most of the time.
Demotivation to carry out activities that were previously entertaining.
Not enjoying recreational activities.
Changes in eating habits.
Changes in sleep behaviors.
Feeling tired or weak.
Feeling tense and restless.
Difficulty paying attention.
Feeling worthless.
Feelings of guilt.
Self-destructive behaviors.
Wanting to self-harm.
Hostility.
Easy cry.
Constant boredom.
Isolation.
Low selfsteem.
We feel handicapped.
Sensitivity to rejection.
Constant complaints of physical pain such as headaches, stomach aches, dizziness, or nausea that have no apparent medical cause.
Lack of school performance.
Thoughts of death.
If your child has several of these symptoms, it is best to take him to a mental health specialist, who will be able to clarify the situation and give an accurate diagnosis if necessary.
What Kind of Help Should Parents Seek?
The diagnosis and procedures to deal with childhood depression should be developed by a team of expert specialists in this area.
It is a recurring problem that with the proper approach and procedure has good results.
Coordinated work with parents in an essential way will help to achieve excellent results. The diagnosis is usually made through a clinical interview with a psychologist or psychiatrist.
In which he will use specific techniques, both verbal and non-verbal, to evaluate cognitive functions and find in speech, the set of signs that point to the diagnosis.
To complete the psychopathological evaluation, the information provided by the parents and the student environment is essential.
After hearing the parents, evaluating the infant, and taking the correct supplemental tests, doctors, psychologists, and psychiatrists arrive at a diagnosis using the most current and up-to-date methodology available.
And it is approached from a multidisciplinary approach, which includes treatment with medication if necessary.
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants have been shown in scientific studies to be effective in children and young people with depression.
These medications are not drugs, they do not cause dependency or addiction, nor do they change the infant's personality.
In conjunction with child psychotherapy and the family nucleus, since parents often wrongly blame themselves for the situation.
How to intervene from home or school?
It is very important that as parents we are in direct contact with both our son and his teachers or school authorities to be aware of his school situation.
On many occasions, the school environment is a stress for children, so we must be informed if it is well-received in its group of classes, or on the contrary it is a victim of bullying.
Sometimes children are ashamed of these things and prefer to solve it on their own, however we must be attentive to their social relationships and their way of relating, to be able to intervene if necessary.
Ask your child how he was doing in school and listen carefully, be interested and let him know that you support him.
Talk to their teachers and other school authorities about your child's behavior in class, and if diagnosed it is important that you participate them with discretion so as not to embarrass your child.
Thus, they can support from their position and form a solid network that gives your child more tools to be better.
Childhood depression is a highly relevant psychological phenomenon that we should not ignore in any way.
Children have a wide emotional capacity in which they can feel really complex things, let's not invalidate their experiences just because they are different from adults.
