Defining factors
Depression takes three main forms. The most severe is major depression, where the largest number of symptoms comes into play. Dysthymic depression is similarly chronic, but often the only symptom is an almost daily depressed mood that can last for years. Bipolar disorder is the third form, characterized by behavior that cycles between mania and depression. Mania may not look like depression to the untrained eye, but its high-energy symptoms are a kind of parody of happiness. Manics have delusions of grandeur, are excitable and voluble, never tire, seldom sleep, and have little need for food.
The curious thing about depression is that it can surface at any time in life. In recent years, physicians and therapists have been coming to terms with the fact that the threshold for depression has been getting lower and lower, in some instances starting in infancy. Childhood depression often begins with another disorder or emotional problem, such as Attention Deficit Disorder or hyperactivity, and then it literally evolves.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, around 2½ percent of children and 8 percent of adolescents in America are depressed.
Dr. David Fassler, chairman of the Council on Children, Adolescence and their Families at the American Psychiatric Association, is the first to admit that his field has seen a revolution.
“When I was at medical school,” he says, “we were taught that children weren’t emotionally mature enough to experience depression. Now we know that at any time something like 5 percent of children in America are depressed and that over half of depressed adults seeking treatment report being depressed in childhood or adolescence.”
Depression in children can have the same effects as in adults: The child will seem sad, will cry and mope, lose his appetite and sleep badly. Often, however, depression manifests itself as agitation or irritability, and the child will get into trouble at school, play truant, get involved in drugs or become sexually promiscuous. In either case, it is important for teachers to recognize whether such symptoms represent a change in the child, and to determine whether the symptoms are lasting. Children who are identified as depressed tend to respond well to treatment.
Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 9 Feb 2006
