Depression in School-aged Children
Causes, effects and treatments for depression in children and teenagers ...
Walk into any classroom in any American grade school or high school, and you’re sure to find the widest range of behaviors and personalities as any other place on earth.
Depression Resource Links
Trying to identify those children and teens with specific illnesses or disorders might seem futile. How do you separate “hyperactive” from eager and energetic? And does a “fearful” child necessarily show warning signs of anxiety?
A depressed child – especially in the youngest grades - is perhaps the hardest to spot.
Unlike children with more overtly violent behaviors, such as those with disruptive behavior disorders, depressed children often are quiet, unobtrusive, and mild mannered. The child doesn’t appear sad, only more inhibited than other children.
But examined a bit more closely, an observant teacher might notice that this child doesn’t actively play with other children, spending more time alone. Events that bring out laughter and enjoyment from others, such as class parties, games, or visits from special visitors, leave this child unmoved, looking bored.
On the other hand, some children who act out at school, causing trouble and getting into frequent fights with others, can be depressed. This type of behavior is also especially prevalent in depressed adolescents, and very often depression is overlooked when trying to determine causes of aggression or anger. (see Adolescence Developmental Psychology).
Depressed teens also have relationship problems, which might at first seem normal for this age group. Relationship problems that occur sporadically are appropriate, but ongoing pervasive problems should be noted as a signal for possible depression.
Find Help!!
If you or someone you know has suicidal thoughts, seek help immediately. Suicide hot line numbers (in the U.S.) exist. The toll-free, 24-hour hot line of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 has trained counselors available to talk with anyone at any time.
These teens start to withdraw from social interactions, and might start to talk about running away from home, or have frequent absences from school.
The most troubling of all symptoms of teen depression is talk of suicide, or ending it all.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, over 90% of teen suicide victims have a mental disorder, and the most common disorders are depression and drug or alcohol abuse.
Not likely to seek treatment
Of adolescents ages 12 to 17 who reported having a major depressive episode over the previous 12 months, less than half (40.3%) received treatment, according to the 2004 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH).
Most teens fear speaking out about their problems, readily seeking intervention and treatment. The stigma attached to mental health disorders among the nation’s youth is fierce. They don’t want to appear crazy or seriously mentally ill.
Yet treatment for depression is effective, involving a range of psychotherapies and sometimes medications. The danger of “over medicating” children and teens is now a major news story among the media, so many practitioners are sensitive to ensuring that, given the severity of the depression, they first employ non-pharmaceutical interventions.
However, in many cases of teen suicide, the proper combination of psychotherapy and/or medication could have quite possibly saved a life. If anything, getting a depressed teen to a doctor or mental health practitioner to talk should be the first priority for all parents, teachers, and caregivers responsible for today’s youth.
Symptoms of depression
Both children and teens experience many of the same depressive symptoms, yet some behaviors are more specific to certain developmental stages.
Children ages 6 to 8 will sometimes exhibit signs of depression by clinging to their parents, and avoiding all new activities and meeting new people or children, according to “Harvard Health Publications” from the Harvard Medical School. Depressed children ages 9 to 12, however, might lay awake thinking morbid thoughts or worrying.
Adolescents are more prone to suicidal thoughts, and also delinquent behaviors. Consuming alcohol and illegal drugs, running away from home, reckless driving, unsafe sexual activity, and stealing are all possible signs of teen depression.
Also, Harvard’s publication also states that adolescents suffer adult symptoms in all their severity, and could even suffer more because teens lack the experience of an adult worldview, overreacting to certain embarrassments and humiliations.
The following chart summarizes some of the more common depressive symptoms based on age:
| Ages 6-12 | Ages 12-18 |
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Risk Factors
Scientists continue to investigate the causes and risk factors associated with childhood and adolescent depression. They have found that those who are diagnosed early with the disorder are likely to have major depressive episodes as adults.
They also know that the prevalence of depression increases with age, possibly occurring in 5% of all teens, and one out of four adult women and one out of five adult men.
Children and teens also have a high risk for depression if depression runs in the family, or if children have other mental health disorders or physical illnesses. Pregnant adolescents, and incarcerated teens are also at a high risk for depression.
If you are interested in working as a mental health counselor with children and teens suffering from depression, contact schools offering degrees in mental health counseling.
In most cases, at least a master’s degree is required, and most states also require licensing. Some positions also require a PhD in Psychology.
Depression in College Freshmen
A survey conducted in 2010 sends out a red flare, declaring a threatening psychological trend.
The American Freshman: National Norms Fall 2010 surveyed 200,000 incoming freshman at four-year colleges about their mental health. Asking freshman to rate their emotional health, the surveyors reported that 52% rated themselves above average, dropping from 64% in 1985.
Reflecting on the survey results, Psychology Today blogger Jonathan Rottenberg, Ph.D., stated that he believes there is growing epidemic of severe depression in the U.S. And this survey is one example of that epidemic.
He referred to the New York Times article, “Record Level of Stress Found in College Freshman.” In the article, counselors at colleges linked the survey’s results to the number of depressed students visiting their campus offices.
The fact that stress and depression is so concentrated among the young makes Rottenberg especially concerned because, he states, depression that “onsets early in life often has a worse course than later onset depression.”
Rottenberg, an associate professor of psychology at the University of South Florida, states that if you’re depressed in college, you’re more likely to be depressed at 30 and 40.
The survey’s 52% rate of emotional health is the lowest rate since the survey started 25 years ago.
Rottenberg, who also directs the mood and emotion laboratory at the university, cited another survey conducted by the American College Counseling Association that found 44% of college students receiving counseling services have severe psychological disorders, compared to 16% in 2000. And 24% are taking psychiatric medication whereas only 17% were a decade ago.
Counselors at college campuses have stated in various articles over the past few years that they are overwhelmed, unable to keep up with the rising number of students seeking help and treatment from college counseling offices. Rottenberg points to these surveys as a reason for the counselors’ troubling reports.
Certainly, the Psychology Today blogger maintains, this trend among those so young and just starting their adult lives, is the “leading edge of a national problem that is going to get worse before it gets better.”