Articles

One of the joys of looking at children is that they are carefree: no responsibilities to attend to, no worries, all bliss, all play. It's the children's joy and carefree spirit that makes an adult take back and reflect on the simplicity of life.

But despite such strengths of children, they are the most prone victims in the society. In fact, their vulnerability is one of the most difficult characteristics to deal with. They are more vulnerable to illness, diseases, abuse, and other forms of difficulties and trials thus depression can be inevitable in children.

Childhood depression is a fact in the society today. Their vulnerability makes them ill-equipped with social and cultural stress that may confront them.

This stress may be a result of parents' divorce, loss of friends, poverty, abuse, disabilities, or neglect to name a few. Once children face this situation, they may loose the ability to adjust and deal with it therefore affecting their overall well being.

Aside from facing these stresses in life, children may be prone to depression based on biological factors. Inherited depression may be evident in children at an early age especially when triggered with a minute situation like neglect from friends.

There will be immediate imbalance in the brain chemistry of the child resulting to negative perception of him and of the world even though he is surrounded with love in the family. This childhood depression cannot be easily diagnosed as this may be confused as part of his childhood development.

The most difficult thing about childhood depression is that they cannot easily know how they feel. So they can not express to adults the way they feel about anything or a given traumatic situation.

Besides, most adults have indifferent treatments to children's views as they are young and immature. Adults tend to view children as mere children whose emotional development is still on the way. However, it is best for parents, caregivers and teachers to take note of symptoms on childhood depression.

The symptoms include isolation from a group or activities where children usually love to play and hang out; constant expression of sadness and hopelessness; increased irritability and agitation with peers or family members; poor school performance and loss of interest in school activities; low self-esteem and persistent shyness; lack of energy, enthusiasm, and motivation to do things that usually interest them; changes in appetite and sleeping habits; and thoughts of deaths.

Once parents, teachers and caregivers, identify these symptoms from children, it is best to personally talk to the m and help them express how they feel. It would further help if you seek professional treatment from child psychologists combined with the cooperation from family members and friends.