Adolescence
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DEPRESSION IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS
(September 3, 1998)
One of the workshops I presented at the Parent Institute Days at
South Suburban College in March focused on depression in children and
adolescents. It was better attended than I ever expected -- by parents and
teachers and mental health professionals alike.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, fourth edition (DSM-IV)
published by the American Psychiatric Association, makes no distinction
between adult depression and childhood depression.
There are actually nine symptoms that signal depression -- only one
symptom is the presence of the "low" or depressed mood that we think of
when we figure a person is depressed.
Other symptoms include loss of appetite, changes in sleeping and
eating habits, not wanting to have fun anymore, irritability, feelings of
guilt, hopelessness and worthlessness, and sometimes depression goes so far
as to trigger thoughts about suicide.
No, we are not suddenly over-medicating a generation of youngsters.
And no, children are not suddenly becoming depressed.
Childhood depression has been around a lot longer than we'd like
to believe. Adults who work with me in their counseling therapy
describe a childhood where they
experienced enough symptoms to warrant a diagnosis of depression in
retrospect.
The problem is, untreated depression in children and adolescents
can be very dangerous. It is taking its toll on our nation of young people -- to the
extent that adolescent suicide has tripled in the last three decades and is
now the third leading cause of death among teens.
There's a big debate going on right now as to whether or not Prozac
should be prescribed for children. In 1996, physicians wrote some 735,000
prescriptions for Prozac and other antidepressants for children between the
ages of 6 and 18.
Some psychologists say that young people are finally getting the
help they need; others disagree and call such treatments a "chemical
straitjacket."
A study done at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
says that children who did receive an antidepressant showed improvement in
mood ratings more than half the time as opposed to only a third of the
children who were given a placebo (American Psychological Association,
Monitor, December 1997).
Truly, there's a lot more research that needs to be done as far as
antidepressants for children are concerned.
Some estimates say that about 30 million Americans can expect to
suffer a bout with depression during their lifetime. That's about one out
of every six people.
We can't say that young people don't think deeply enough to become
depressed. Or feel deeply enough. They spend an enormous amount of
intellectual and emotional energy trying to make sense of their world.
And some young people become depressed.
They don't miraculously become eligible for a diagnosis of
depression on their eighteenth birthday.
Email: rein@starnetinc.com
