What do you do when you see your child is feeling low frequently and is oblivious to the excitement around her? Do you brush it off and think it is normal for kids to have mood swings? It’s time you don’t ignore the child and check if any symptoms of depression.
If you thought depression hits only the adults, think again and childhood depression is as serious as adult depression. Statistics reveal shocking facts. One in thirty three children and one in eight teens suffer from blues. If unchecked this could pose to be a mammoth problem in the coming days.
What causes childhood depression?
Children are very sensitive and a significant change in their life could upset them. Divorce among parents, death of a loved one or their pets, change of residence to a new location, tantrums from peer group, inability to live up to the expectations of parents could be some of the reasons that drive kids into a feeling of guilt and hopelessness.
What can you do as a parent?
It’s hard for parents to see normally cheerful children withdraw into a cocoon all of a sudden. It’s important for parents to recognize the symptoms of depression and spend time with the child and find out the reasons. Reassure the kid that she is not responsible of things that are not in her control and you are by her side to help her get out of the blues. In case the symptoms are worse, it’s better to consult a professional before things go out of hand.
Kids spread so much cheer around and it’s sad to see more children going blue these days. Identifying the root cause and dealing it with love could surely help children see the world in psychedelic colors again.
Comments
Childhood depression is an urgent mental health issue. There is strong research to suggest that children can be buffered against developing depression by learning how to successfully process and manage adversity such as frustrations and disappointments. The idea is that if children can learn to keep those events in perspective, even learn from them, they don’t pile up or turn into a distorted world view of negative absolutes– everything is wrong, I can’t fix anything. I feel strongly that if parents learn how to coach kids in managing these bumps in the road, kids will become more resilient. I talk about these ideas in my book, Freeing Your Child from Negative Thinking. Parents can learn strategies for changing the ”commentary” or story kids tell themselves about negative events, as well as learn how to help kids ride out the wave of negative emotion.
The important message here, I think, is that there is much that can be done in a preventive fashion, so that parents aren’t just waiting for those red flags of depression, they are ensuring that their children never get to that point.