Depression can as well affect children of different ages, starting from preschool to early adulthood. The experts state that the depression rates among young people have really skyrocketed in recent time. A lately conveyed study among the students at Kansas State University revealed that the number of students in depression has doubled in the last thirteen years.
It would be useful to know that these depression rates shown among children are surely underestimated as parents and also professionals are not able to recognize the disorder in most cases. Kids rarely report low mood state spontaneously to other people. On the contrary they are more prone to stay unaware of their emotions and feelings, which manifest in various behavior changes, loss of appetite as well as sleep disturbances.
This story can serve as a vivid example of a depressed state in children:
Johnny’s mom wanted to surprise her. She brought delicious cupcakes to school on Johnny’s 8th birthday. The teacher encourages the class to sing a “Happy Birthday” song, but Johnny shows no interest, she slightly smiles. Having quickly eaten all the cupcakes the two trays were loaded with, the children run out towards the playground for a break. Johnny trails slowly behind her classmates.
The teacher of Johnny comes to the mother and says: “I am very concerned about Johnny’s behavior. It seems that recently he has become less interested in schoolwork. I quite frequently see him sitting alone on the school playground. He used to raise his hand often in class and now he doesn’t. It looks like something is going wrong with him.”
behavior of children in depression
If children feel depressed, they usually lose interest in the activities they used to enjoy. When you ask children if they feel sad, they generally are not even able to bound their feelings and emotions with words. Still they will have different symptoms of depression, like irritability, low energy, appetite changes, sleep disturbances, extremely low self-esteem.
Watch kids as they play to detect the symptoms of depression. Children with low mood state might weave topics of death and their play loss. Actually all kids’ play sometimes includes those topics occasionally. However sad, dark themes appear more frequently in children with depression. You must examine children over some time in terms of strange changes in their moods. Kids might not look as long depressed as adult people who are depressed. The moods of children often fluctuate during the day. In case you have some doubts you should check with a professional.