{"id":16098,"date":"2021-12-15T17:20:54","date_gmt":"2021-12-15T16:20:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dide.org\/child-and-adolescent-depression-observing-signs-and-early-detection\/"},"modified":"2021-12-15T17:20:54","modified_gmt":"2021-12-15T16:20:54","slug":"child-and-adolescent-depression-observing-signs-and-early-detection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dide.org\/en\/child-and-adolescent-depression-observing-signs-and-early-detection\/","title":{"rendered":"Child and adolescent depression, observing signs and early detection"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m looking at the tree outside my bedroom window and a lot, a lot of time passes. I don’t feel like moving, or doing anything. I can’t say what I have, or what’s wrong with me. My body feels tired, but I haven’t done anything. My toys are all on the furniture; I used to like playing with them, but now I don’t care and I don’t feel like using the tablet either. My mother has already come in several times and said to me, “What are you doing standing there like a dummy?” I didn’t quite know what to answer her. She’s always running around and doing things very quickly; she works a lot outside and inside the house. <\/span><\/p>\n

My little brother is a pain to everyone, and my mother says, “This child is driving me crazy.” My father spends little time at home; he always has work to do outside. My grandfather used to say to me, “Don’t worry, darling, even if your parents are very busy, you and I can do so many things together, and you know we have a lot of fun.” Now my “grandpa” is gone forever, like my turtle was; they’ve already explained to me that it’s normal, but I miss him so much… and I miss his words, his hugs, his stories, his games… I see his things, and I don’t fully understand why it had to be this way. My brother seems to care less. <\/span><\/p>\n

When night comes, I don’t know why I’m scared, and I have trouble sleeping, and when I finally do, monsters appear, and I wake up sweaty and with so much anguish.<\/span><\/p>\n

I used to like school, and I was doing well, but now I’m not interested. It’s not like when I’m bored; it’s different; I just don’t care. In many classes, I don’t understand; the bell rings, and I don’t know what the teacher has explained. My friends want me to play with them in the yard, and I do, but like a robot; they get angry with me because they say I don’t understand and that I’m in the clouds. I miss my best friend Fran a lot; he moved to another city last year; we talk on the phone, sometimes have a video conference, but it’s not the same. I do athletics; I used to like it a lot, and also competing, but now when my teacher yells at me, I get a pain in my chest and a knot in my stomach, and I just want to go home and go into my room without anyone talking to me. <\/span><\/p>\n

Mom tells me that I’m getting weirder every day and that I have “very little patience” because I get angry easily and everything bothers me. I would like to talk to Mom and Dad and tell them that I’m not well, that I don’t know or understand what’s happening to me, that I don’t know how to explain it well either, that I’m afraid of staying like this forever, but they have very little time for anything, and what’s happening to me is strange; I also don’t want them to think they have a “touched” son. <\/span><\/p>\n

The above is not a mere story; depression<\/strong> (low mood), although it seems difficult to accept, not only exists and is suffered by minors, children, and adolescents, but is also being verified from the Covid-19 pandemic an increase to almost 90%, in addition to other psychiatric ailments that are not the subject of this article. Childhood and youth are not protective filters against sadness, anguish, discouragement, apathy, anhedonia, abulia, anxiety, changes in the circadian cycle and sleep, self-harming ideas. Nor can or should the maxim that time heals everything and that it will pass be applied, because children overcome everything. <\/span><\/p>\n

Symptoms of depression in children<\/span><\/h2>\n

The symptoms of depression vary according to the child’s personality and the stage of development in which they are. The Sant Joan de D\u00e9u<\/a> hospital (Barcelona) lists the following: <\/span><\/p>\n

The main symptoms are:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Irritable or sad mood. <\/strong>Children are usually more irritable or moody than sad or dejected.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Loss of interest or pleasure<\/strong>. They spend less time on hobbies<\/em> or activities that previously gave them pleasure. Parents often notice greater social isolation or abandonment of hobbies<\/strong> that they previously enjoyed. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Other symptoms:<\/span><\/p>\n