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Essay on Investigating Depression in Children

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Investigating Depression in Children During childhood years, children are almost as susceptible to being depressed as adults. Many adults to not realize that being a child can be very frustrating, and they often feel powerless. Children can have a lot of stress in their lives and cannot deal with it as easily as adults. They have many concerns such as school, peers, parental acceptations, etc. Childhood depression is a mental illness that affects children's behavior and moods. If it is not treated, in years to …show more content…

Rather than having a depressed mood, children are much more likely to have an irritable mood. Adults often will not enjoy anything when they are depressed, but there are usually some activities children and adolescents will enjoy doing no matter how depressed they get. The child may feel worried and irritable. The similar affects are fatigue, loss of sleep or more than usual, significant weight gain or loss, feelings of worthlessness or guilt, persistent boredom, physical complaints, such as a headache or stomachache, and the inability to concentrate or make decisions. They may brood or lash out in anger as a result of the distress they are feeling. While this may seem on the surface to be a behavioral problem, it is really a symptom of an underlying emotional problem. It is very important to treat this illness and be aware of the symptoms, because it may only get worse as they get older. Because each child responds to depression differently, it is very possible that children might hurt themselves, or even commit suicide.

Children may not have the vocabulary to express their feelings like adults do, so they tend to show their depression more through their behavior. They might not even know that they are depressed, although they may be able to respond honestly if they are asked directly if they are sad. Depressed children often believe that there is

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