Depression in children: the basics

Depression In Children

In children, depressive illnesses/anxiety may be disguised as, or presented as, school phobia or school avoidance, social phobia or social avoidance, excessive separation anxiety, running away, obsessions, compulsions, or everyday rituals, such as having to go to bed at the exact time each night for fear something bad may happen. Chronic illnesses may be present also since depression weakens the immune system. Other signs include persistent unhappiness, negativity, complaining, chronic boredom, and taking no initiative.

• Uncontrollable anger with aggressive or destructive behaviour, possibly hitting themselves or others, kicking or self-biting or head banging
• Harming animals
• Continual disobedience
• Easily frustrated, frequent crying, low self-esteem, overly sensitive
• Inability to pay attention, remember, or make decisions, easily distracted, mind goes blank
• Energy fluctuations from lethargic to frenzied activity, with periods of normalcy
• Eating or sleeping problems
• Bedwetting, constipation, diarrhoea
• Impulsiveness, accident-prone
• Chronic worry & fear, clingy, panic attacks
• Extreme self-consciousness
• Slowed speech & body movements
• Disorganized speech – hard to follow when telling you a story, etc
• Physical symptoms such as dizziness, headaches, stomach aches, arms or legs ache, nail-biting, pulling out hair or eyelashes. (ruling out other medical causes)
• Suicidal talk or attempts

Credits

Author:

Pragya Lodha, MINDS Mumbai Program Director & Psychologist

Acknowledgements

Ankita Gupta, MINDS Research Associate
Anoushka Thakkar, MINDS Research Associate
Roshni Dadlani, MINDS Communications Lead

References