When someone tells you that children and teenagers can’t possibly experience Depression, they’re lying. Although it may be difficult to notice symptoms in children and teens, there are definitely signs which can help diagnose at an early age. Depression is a serious mood disorder.
While it is normal for children and teens to have up and down moods, it can be a sign of Depression or another type of mental health disorder. Below I will make a list of what signs and symptoms children and teens can experience.
CHILDREN:
- IRRITABLE – Children can often be in a very bad mood a lot of the time even if they have no reason, they can be sad and withdrawn from day-to-day activities that they once enjoyed.
- DECREASED ENJOYMENT – You will notice this if you see your child taking part in activities that they once really enjoyed and now it doesn’t seem to phase them, they may complain of being bored a lot of the time.
- LOSE/GAIN WEIGHT – When dealing with Depression, some can develop an eating disorder, some children may lose their appetite and not want to eat or some can turn to comfort eating instead.
- LACK OF ENERGY – Children may face the difficult of sleeping at night and be lethargic through the day. They also may complain of frequent headaches and tummy aches.
TEENAGERS: While Depression can effect a lot of people in the same way, sometimes it is different for teenagers as they do kind of understand what they’re going through but it seems to affect them more.
- MORE SLEEP – Teens may sleep more while suffering with Depression because it can make you feel exhausted, uncooperative, locked away so the only thing that teens feel comfortable doing is to sleep it off. Which is also a common symptoms in adults.
- HALLUCINATE – While I think it’s very rare for every Depression sufferer to experience this, some people with really severe cases may see or hear things that aren’t there and that may also be caused by another undiagnosed disorder.
CAUSES OF THIS? – Depression doesn’t necessarily need to have a cause for people to suffer with it but it is more than likely that such things (listed below) have happened to bring it to the surface.
- Stressful Events (Changing schools, divorce, losing family member)
- Medicine (Steroids and Narcotics)
- Family/Medical history/genes
Please note that I am not a professional health care advisor on mental health issues, I am just talking from experience and I hope this helps anyone with children who may have a slight inkling that they are not well. I cannot stress enough how important it is to be supportive because chances are, you don’t know what is going on and neither does your child. Please take this advice with caution and if you’re still not sure, even if you are, still take your child to your local GP to have them officially diagnosed. Thanks for reading!
STAY POSITIVE.
my journey in mental health 