A depressed teenager: advice from a psychologist on how to avoid trouble

Depression is a mental disorder in which a person experiences depressed, depressed mood and a decreased or even complete loss of the ability to experience pleasure. Depression does not only affect adults, as many people are accustomed to thinking.

This disease is also being diagnosed in children. Moreover, this disease can manifest itself almost from birth. The disease is included in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) under code F32 and has three degrees: mild, moderate and severe.

In some cases, childhood depression may be mistaken for ASD, especially at an early age. This is due to the similar symptoms of both disorders. With autism spectrum disorder, children also experience problems with communication, communication, and behavior, as with childhood depression.

A depressed state in a child inhibits cognitive development and therefore requires mandatory correction. You can prevent negative consequences if you identify the signs of an incipient disease in time.

Causes of childhood depression

Depression in a child can appear only when he has a certain basis for this condition. These are biochemical, neurological, hereditary and psychosocial factors. This is already accompanied by formal reasons that provoke depression, such as problems at school, at home, feelings of loneliness, etc.

Possible causes of childhood depression:

• Lesions of the central nervous system. Can be caused by intrauterine infections, intrauterine fetal hypoxia, neonatal encephalopathy, asphyxia. All this leads to brain damage;
• Hereditary predisposition. Children whose parents often suffered from depression are themselves susceptible to this ailment;
• Problems of a psychological and emotional nature. For example, a child constantly observes conflicts between parents, experiences excessive care and attention from parents or lack thereof (over- and under-custody, “family idol” type of upbringing), grows up with only one parent, and encounters regular misunderstanding when communicating with significant adults;
• When experiencing severe mental trauma. For example, parental divorce, illness of loved ones or someone’s death;
• Non-permanent place of residence. When moving frequently, the child experiences stress and does not have time to make close friends with whom he could share his experiences and tell secrets;
• The child spends a lot of time in lessons and classes and does not get enough sleep. During periods of mental and physical overstrain, he is most susceptible to depressive states;
• Problems with studies. The child begins to lag behind his peers, as a result of which he may be subject to ridicule and bullying on their part, his self-esteem begins to decline;
• Teenage years. During adolescence, the body undergoes restructuring (the appearance of menstruation in girls and nocturnal emissions in boys), changes in body shape, and the appearance of acne. Children can become more aggressive due to the production of certain hormones. In their social circle, leaders and outsiders begin to stand out. A teenager who is not accepted into social groups feels lonely and unwanted, which leads to depression.

The cause of the disease is often health problems. These include frequent headaches, allergies, diseases of the stomach, thyroid gland, poor diet and excessive consumption of sugars. But these problems themselves can cause depression only if they are chronic and worsen the quality of life, thereby causing the child to worry about this.

Normal or depressed state

Your child may feel sad, depressed, and cry for a while. This is a natural and extremely necessary way for our psyche to give vent to emotions.

You should not immediately run to a psychoanalyst if your child had a fight with friends or lay in bed all day. Watch!

You need to worry when symptoms of depression appear more and more often. And the child is in a normal state of mind less and less often. The line between normal and not normal is very thin.

Depressive triad

In psychotherapy, there is a symptom complex called the depressive triad - three main manifestations of depression:

1. Bad mood.
2. Deterioration in the quality and speed of thinking.
3. Lack of motor activity (lethargy, apathy).

These three symptoms are indicators of the child's condition. If you observe kinks in one or more of them, contact a specialist.

Symptoms and signs of childhood depression

It is very difficult to determine the development of the disease at the initial stage, especially at an early age, when the baby does not show any complaints. Also difficult is the similarity with other diseases.

With depressive reactions, the following are often observed:

• General lethargy and weakness. The child quickly gets tired even with minimal physical exertion, his reaction slows down, and coordination of movements worsens;
• Sleep disorders. The baby wakes up and cries in his sleep, he may develop insomnia;
• Lethargy;
• Frequent mood swings, inability to rejoice and enjoy life;
• Decreased interest in life. Children become withdrawn, lack initiative, do not want to study, communicate, or play;
• Uncontrolled appetite or lack thereof, as well as eating disorders. Parents should be alerted that the child refuses to eat or, conversely, eats too often and in large portions;
• Anxiety;
• Dysthymia. The child begins to be gloomy, gloomy, capricious, embittered, constantly complaining, making reproaches and accusations;
• Speech defects. A speech pattern similar to alalia, ZRR may develop;
• Decreased self-esteem and self-confidence;
• Psychosomatic disorders (vomiting for no reason, abdominal pain of unknown origin, neurodermatitis, bronchial asthma, increased frequency of seasonal colds, allergies and others).
• Enuresis, encopresis;
• Refusal to perform daily activities (brushing teeth, combing hair, going to school, etc.);
• In severe childhood depression - thoughts of suicide;

What else can you do

Parents always feel like they are not doing enough for their children. Especially when it comes to treating not the simplest mental disorder. Childhood depression - what else you can do for your child:

Organize your favorite activities.

During therapy, it is important to create the most comfortable home environment for the child. Due to his current difficult condition, it is worth giving up travel, noisy holidays, and lifestyle changes.

On the contrary, remember what brought joy to the child in the past. For example, singing karaoke, playing board games, cooking food together, caring for a pet. Return to these activities.

Create a space of trust.

Children make contact more easily not during a so-called confidential conversation, but in the process of some kind of joint activity. Do something with your child and talk unobtrusively. Do not ask with pressure, but simply give the opportunity to express your emotions, plans, fears. Make it a habit to communicate this way during joint activities.

Do not punish for revelations.

Inconvenient truths are hard to hear. But if you have reached a certain level of frank communication, therapy brings results, and the child decides to tell you about the not so pleasant moments in his life, do not betray his trust. Refuse the impulse to judge, subtract, punish. By these actions you will only close with a concrete wall the small door of trust that has opened in front of you.

Gradually involve your child in social interaction.

If a noisy company does not yet arouse his enthusiasm, start small. Communication with even one friend will help gradually return the child to full social interaction with others.

Bring physical activity back into your child's life.

Hiking, cycling, sports games, rollerblading or skating - any physical activity is suitable. Physical activity will not only distract you from sad thoughts, but also help relieve muscle tension.

Control your obsession with gadgets.

Being stuck on the phone itself has a negative impact on children, and during periods of depression it can become a factor slowing down recovery. It is better to leave online games and social networks for later - when the child feels better.

Watch your diet.

It has been proven that an abundance of carbohydrate foods has a negative effect on mood. Fuel your child's energy balance with healthy foods: healthy fats, quality proteins, fresh fruits and vegetables. Don't forget about healthy treats.

Give your child enough time to sleep.

If he's sleeping, don't wake him up. If he can’t sleep, turn on calm music, give him a glass of warm milk, and sit next to him. Adequate sleep is the key to rapid restoration of both physical and mental strength of the child. If you have persistent insomnia, consult your doctor about taking mild sleeping pills.

What does it look like

Clinical criteria for major depression (or unipolar, as opposed to bipolar disorder with alternating manic and depressive stages), according to the diagnostic and statistical manual, include depressed mood (feeling of emptiness, tearfulness, in children and adolescents - increased emotional excitability); decreased interest and pleasure in all areas of life; changes in weight and appetite; insomnia, drowsiness; agitation or lethargy; weakness and loss of energy; feelings of failure and unreasonable guilt; inability to think and concentrate; thoughts of death, suicidal thoughts.

American psychiatrists warn: depressed children, especially if they are over 12 years old, may start using alcohol and drugs.

Depressed children often complain that everything hurts – their head, stomach, heart, arms, legs. Some have everything at once, some have only one thing, but always. Some say it is difficult to breathe, impossible to breathe. They begin to get sick a lot, and very often before contacting a psychologist or psychiatrist, they are examined by different doctors for several months.

Many “fall into childhood” - in fact, they return to previous stages of development: they lose mastered skills, begin to play with long-abandoned toys, and return to once-loved books for little ones. Enuresis and encopresis may occur. Some begin to pretend to be babies: lisp, ask to be held, and offer to play children's games.

Tearfulness, fears, whining, stickiness and importunity - on the one hand, children are irritated and rude to adults, on the other hand, they want confirmation of love from them - these are also signs of depression. “Children, like adults, may have a pronounced circadian rhythm of endogenous depression: in the morning they are lethargic and boring, and in the evening the level of anxiety and irritability increases, and motor control increases,” says clinical psychologist Natalya Naumenko.

Photo from cognitive-psychiatry.com

Children often think about the meaninglessness of life, about death. Someone is afraid for themselves and is looking for all possible sores, someone for their mother: will she get hit by a car, will she die? Some are terrorists, thieves, robbers. Someone is worried about the fate of the world: whether there will be a war, whether they will bomb us, whether humanity will die from overpopulation or a cosmic catastrophe.

The most insignificant reason can cause wild hysteria. Domestic psychiatrists N. Iovchuk and A. Severny describe attacks of excitement with crying, uncontrollable movement, screaming, tears: “At the same time, children’s complaints are limited to the laconic: “I can’t do this anymore,” “there is water and fire in my chest,” accompanied by the same type of lamentations or screams ”, these authors write.

“At the moment of uncontrollable movement, children smash dishes, break toys, tear clothes, jump out onto the balcony, into the yard and defiantly scream shrilly, roll on the floor, even chew chair legs. At the same time, they shout that they can’t live anymore, that they won’t live, that it’s better to die, and often they attempt to commit suicide. Such states last from 10-15 minutes to 2 hours and are replaced by motor retardation with silence and low availability.

Equally short-lived are states with painful bodily sensations and fear of death, occurring with motor restlessness, and less often with immobility.”

Experts always urge that any promises to commit suicide be taken with the utmost seriousness.

For some reason, there is a myth that a person who says he will commit suicide is only scaring and will never do it. Another problem with children is that they often do not have a sense of the line between a real suicide attempt and a make-believe attempt, there is no clear understanding of the irreparability of their actions - this appears only in adolescence.

Photo from huffingtonpost.co.uk

It seems to the child that he will be able to watch from somewhere from the outside how they mourn him, how everyone repents that they were unfair to him... This is exactly the case when it is better to play it safe.

Signs of suicidal behavior in children:

(From the article Depression in Children)

• Numerous symptoms of depression (changes in appetite, sleep, activity).
• Social isolation, including family isolation.
• Talk about suicide, hopelessness and helplessness.
• Aggression or unwanted behavior (including sexual behavior).
• Increased risk appetite.
• Frequent accidents.
• Alcohol and drug use.
• Fixation on death and negative topics.
• Conversations about death and dying.
• Inability to cry or decreased emotionality.
• Giving away your things.