Depression experienced in childhood is a more serious condition than a simple state of sadness and affects the child/young person's emotional world, mindset and behavior. Childhood depression is often considered difficult. For this reason, the symptoms of depression exhibited by the child may not be noticed in a healthy way and may be pushed aside. A while ago it was believed that children before the age of twelve did not experience depression problems, but we now know that depressive symptoms can appear in infancy. However, those symptoms should be taken seriously and childhood depression must be treated.
Depression can occur as a single attack or progress in a recurrent course, but depression in children follows a more fluctuating course.
HOW CAN WE KNOW IF THE CHILD IS DEPRESSION?
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First of all, the child with depression has difficulty concentrating his attention, is generally reluctant, and has disturbances in sleep and appetite.
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He is constantly sad and hopeless.
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He begins to move away from the social environments and activities he once enjoyed and no longer enjoys them.
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A decrease in academic success is observed.
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Changes are observed in eating and sleeping habits.
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He has difficulty making decisions and cannot concentrate his attention.
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There is a significant decrease in self-confidence.
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Physical complaints appear.
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There is a decrease in energy and willingness.
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It develops a tendency to alcohol and substance addiction.
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Suicide or death. He/she starts to think about it frequently.
In research, we see that '3% of children and 13% of young people have symptoms of depression. Someone who had depression in childhood is very likely to experience a depressive episode again in later life. Bipolar disorder and eating disorders may also be seen in these children at later ages.
When working with childhood depression; It is of great importance whether there is a history of depression in the family. Because we know that if there is a family history of depression, the risk is approximately 10 to 13%. �r. The risk of major depression for a child increases if the parents have alcoholism or death before the child is 13 years old. In addition, stressful life events such as health problems, abuse, divorce or ongoing child-parent conflict are some of the reasons that increase the risk of depression.
Depression is a different reaction from the feeling of sadness that occurs in every individual and occurs against the events/situations we encounter. Depression is a condition that can end spontaneously, but becomes chronic when it is expected to end spontaneously. Therefore, the above symptoms should not be ignored.
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