What is Youth Depression?
Depression is also called Major Depressive
Disorder and occurs when a person experiences a depressed mood, hopelessness, and
loss of pleasure in normal childhood activities. These symptoms must last for at
least two weeks and throughout most of the each day during that time for a diagnosis
to be made. Children may exhibit irritability and oppositional behavior, with or
without sadness, which is a criterion different from that of adults.
Depression can be difficult to diagnose.
It can be understood as a normal human response to a stressful life event, a symptom
of a medical illness, a side effect of a medical treatment or the result of an imbalance
in the brain’s chemistry. While the cause of depression is not yet known, it is
thought that children’s depression is caused by a combination of the same factors
that cause depression in adults. These components can be neurochemical, genetic,
health, environmental, and/or cognitive.
Symptoms and challenges of the diagnosis
Children with depression face the same affective, cognitive, and behavioral difficulties
as adults with depression. Childhood depression may have a greater long-term impact
on an individual’s life than adult depression in that it can hinder developmental
processes such as making friends, passing classes, and building relationships with
family. Even after the symptoms of depression decrease or disappear, some of these
difficulties may persist because the child has fallen behind his or her peers. Further,
symptoms of depression frequently recur, with up to 70% of children having another
depressive episode within 5 years.
In addition, risks associated with childhood
depression include substance abuse, smoking, physical illness, early pregnancy,
exposure to negative life events, and poor academic functioning/dropout. Long-term
consequences include experiencing more severe physical and mental illness and impaired
functioning in adult life than individuals who did not experience childhood depression.
Suicide, which can be associated with depression, is the third leading cause of
death in youth age 10 to 24 years.
Symptoms of depression are: changes in mood,
energy, concentration, sleep, appetite and social relationships, irritability or
anger, physical complaints, crying, and sadness or hopelessness. In some cases,
auditory or visual hallucinations or suicidal thoughts or behaviors may be present.
Treatment
The treatment is often a
combination of medication (discussed below) and psychotherapy. Therapy can consist
of altering negative thought patterns, learning problem-solving skills, practicing
deep breathing and progressive muscle relaxation, visualization, parent education
about the disorder and social skills training. Other interventions include exercise,
proper nutrition and school involvement. Therapy is an essential part of treatment
for depression. The traditional type of therapy is “talk therapy” with a trained
therapist. Another type is behavioral therapy, which involves the patient and therapist
formulating goals or new skills to work toward changing behavior patterns. This
type of therapy also encourages acknowledgement of positive events and behaviors.
The last type of therapy is cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) which addresses a
patient’s self-defeating thought patterns and helps the patient understand how thoughts
affect emotions and behaviors as well as how behaviors and emotions can affect thoughts.
CBT challenges self-defeating thoughts (cognitive) and seeks to modify outward actions
(behavioral).
For more information about
TeleKidcare services for youth depression and adjustment concerns, please contact
Eve-Lynn Nelson, Ph.D.
enelson2@kumc.edu
(913) 588-2413
For more information, please contact:
Kathy Davis, MSEd, PhD
kdavis2@kumc.edu
(913) 588-6305