Newsletter Volume 1

 

RECOGNIZING DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY IN OUR CHILDREN

Kids who have anxiety as children are more likely to have teen depression. Here are some facts you will find interesting:

• About half of teens who are depressed also had a childhood anxiety disorder.
• 85% of teens who have both anxiety disorders and depression had their anxiety disorder first.

Childhood anxiety disorders are persistent symptoms that center on a single theme. They cause children a great deal of distress and disrupt their daily lives. These disorders fall into three categories:

• Separation anxiety. The most common childhood anxiety disorder is when a child fears there is a threat to his family. There is a deep-seated fear that something bad is going to happen to one of the family members – or to the child. Being apart from their family is scary to these kids. They may get very real headaches, stomach aches or diarrhea on school days - but the pain comes from their brains.
  
• Social phobia. These kids are extremely uncomfortable with the social aspects of school. They often become “socially mute.” They will talk with their family, but not with anyone outside the home. Often they refuse to go to school.
  
• Generalized anxiety disorder. These kids worry excessively about the future. They worry about how they will do in college, even though they are in 5th grade.

 

Signs Your Child Is Depressed....


According to the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, any of these symptoms may mean your child is depressed:

• Frequent sadness, tearfulness and /or crying or expressions of hopelessness
• Persistent boredom; low energy, the inability to have joy
• Extreme sensitivity to rejection or failure
• Increased irritability, anger, or hostility
• Difficulty with relationships
• Frequent complaints of physical illnesses such as headaches and stomach
  aches.
• Frequent absences from school or poor performance in school.
• Poor concentration
• A major change in eating and/or sleeping patterns
• Talk of or efforts to run away from home
• Thoughts or expressions of suicide or self-destructive behavior.

 

When to get help....

Sometimes kids get sad when sad things happen to them or to their pets, family or friends. The sadness usually goes away in a few days. But parents know when something is sticking and not going away. Most kids bounce back from an adverse experience in just a few days. Depressed children are still sad after a couple of weeks. Know your kids and trust your heart.

Treatment....

Comprehensive treatment is individual and family work. Parents are in the mainstream of the treatment. The short-term goal is symptom reduction. If a particular situation is prompting or triggering the depression, parents are often helpful in identifying the trigger.

Antidepressant medication can be an important part of the treatment.
But it can’t be the only treatment.

 

For more information on depression and anxiety in children, contact Michelle Kindt RN, MSS, LCSW, BCD at 610-688-1424 or at Kindtm@aol.com.