Depression is a mood disorder (mood) that cause children and adolescents to feel sad or irritable to be a long time. A young person who is depressed, no longer enjoys school, and play with friends and may be lacking in energy or have other symptoms. As adults, symptoms range from mild depression to severe and one person to another. Depression can last a long time and may have a cyclic evolution, with periods of illness followed by periods without symptoms. Chronic depression, dysthymia and mild form called, occurs when a child feels defeated most of the time period of one year or more. Both the mild form and severe form of depression can be treated with efficiency.
Until recently it was believed that only adults suffer from depression, while children and teens do not. We now know that even young children can have serious forms of depression that require treatment for healing. However, symptoms of depression in children and adolescents are difficult to recognize. Symptoms range from abdominal pain and boredom can be confused with symptoms of other diseases. Many children and teenagers with depression do not receive proper treatment for the symptoms is not known. Variations of mood and emotional changes caused by depression can go unnoticed, considered unimportant or assigned normal growth.
Children and adolescents with depression and other disorders and often have anxiety, hyperexcitability similar behavior (hyperactivity) with attention deficit disorder, eating disorders and the serious process of learning and behavior problems (disorderly conduct). These symptoms may occur before being diagnosed with depression in children.
In the past, consider that depression is "all in the mind" and that a depressed person is able to recover by itself. Today we know that depression is an illness that requires treatment and is not a flaw or weakness. Childhood and adolescence can be difficult for children with depression and family members, especially when the disease is not treated. If untreated, severe depression may last a year or more. Severe or prolonged depression can cause problems such as difficulty in making friends with others and maintaining friendships, difficulties in school, drug abuse, suicidal behavior and other problems that may extend into adulthood. Have turned to professional help if your parents found this behavior in childhood depression.
Causes
Depression is considered to be an imbalance of certain chemicals called neurotransmitters that transmit messages between brain nerve cells. Some of these chemicals, like serotonin helps regulate mood. If these chemicals that regulate mood, cause imbalance in the brain nerve cells, resulting depression or other mood disorders. Experts do not currently have set up the neurotransmitter imbalance that occurs. They believe that this change can occur as a consequence of stress or disease, but it can occur without clear cause.
Risk Factors
Depression in family members: children and adolescents who have a parent with depression are three times higher risk of depression than do those whose parents do not have depression. Experts believe that both inherited family traits (genetic) and living with a parent who has depression may increase risk to the child's depression.
Depression in children and adolescents may be due to stress, unresolved social problems and family conflicts. It may also be associated with trauma such as violence, abuse or neglect.
Children and adolescents who have serious medical conditions prolonged learning problems or behavior problems may be more easily depressed.
Some medications can trigger depression, such as steroids or narcotics for pain relief administered. Once the drugs are discontinued, symptoms usually disappear.
Factors that increase risk of depression in young
Several factors increase the risk of depression in young people:
- If a parent or an immediate family member has depression: it is the most important risk factor for depression (children or adolescents who have a parent with depression are three times more likely to be depressed)
- If they had a depressive episode, especially if the first depressive episode occurred at a young age
- If you have chronic medical conditions such as diabetes or epilepsy
- The presence of other psychiatric disorders, such as disorderly conduct or anxiety (anxiety, fear)
- Death of a family member or close friend
- Physical or sexual abuse
- Abuse of alcohol or drugs.
Other risk factors and situations that lead to depression are:
- Girls in early puberty (girls and boys before puberty have the same risk for depression but after puberty and adulthood, women are 2 times more prone to depression than men do)
- Domestic violence
- Lack of social relations with persons of the same age
- The victim of aggression or aggression.
Symptoms
Depression in childhood or adolescence is to develop gradually or suddenly. The child may seem irritable rather than sad or feeling tired or hopeless. Entourage child in the child with apparent slowness in movements depression, insomnia or agitation. The child may be self-critical or have a feeling that others are too critical of him.
The symptoms of depression are often subtle at first. At this stage it is difficult symptoms associated with depression and it's hard to believe that it is depression in children.
Children with depression may have these symptoms:
- Irritability
- Violent temper
- Unexplained pain such as headaches or stomach
- Difficulty in thinking and decision making
- Drowsiness sauinsomnie
- Changes in eating habits that can lead to growth, absence of weight loss or weight gain, expected to increase child
- Loss of self-esteem (low self confidence)
- Feelings of guilt or hopelessness
- Lack of energy or constant fatigue
- Withdrawal from social life, such as lack of interest in friends
- The thought of death and suicidal thoughts.
Untreated depression can lead to suicide. Carefully for signs of suicide change with age. Signs of attention to child and adolescent suicide include preoccupation with death or suicide or the recent termination of the relations of friendship. Many children with depression have symptoms of anxiety (anxiety) such as permanent and unfounded concerns and fears of separation from a parent. Sometimes these symptoms appear before depression is diagnosed.
Other less common symptoms can occur in children with severe depression and hearing voices that are not there (auditory hallucinations) or blind belief in a false idea (illusion, anger). Hallucinations are common in childhood, while delusions are more common in adolescence.
Differentiate between various normal mood and symptoms of depression is often difficult. Occasional feelings of sadness or irritability are normal. They allow the child to understand the grief and cope with obstacles in life. For example, deep sorrow (heavy loss) is a normal response to a loss such as death of family pet, the loss of a friend or divorce of parents. After a tough loss, the child may stay sad for a long time. However, if these emotions do not disappear after a while and begin to interfere with the private life of the young child can develop symptoms of mood disorder like depression or dysthymic disorder (depression during long nonsevere) requiring treatment.
Approximately 15% of children and adolescents diagnosed with depression develop bipolar disorder (this contradictory symptoms: alternating between depression and mood exaggerated). Children and adolescents with bipolar disorder have extreme events which alternates between bouts of manic depression (children are energetic, restless or irritable). The common symptoms of depression may be common to other diseases.
It is sometimes difficult to differentiate bipolar disorder from depression. It is common for a child diagnosed with bipolar disorder to be diagnosed with depression for the first time that after his first manic episode is diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Although depression is part of bipolar disorder, they require different treatment from that of depression. Like depression, bipolar disorder may be familial, hence the need to inform the family doctor about a family that there are other cases of bipolar disorders .