Is there depression in children? Yes, depression and neuroses are common in children and adolescents. Today we will try to understand the causes of this condition and give advice to troubled parents.
For some reason, we are used to believe that depression is the lot of adults. If suddenly a person starts experiencing inexplicable melancholy, weakness, anxiety, we can diagnose him on the run. It turns out that children can also suffer from this disease ...
Specialists note this condition even in infants. The very first experience of depression children acquire in the period from 6 months to 1.5 years. This is most often due to the fact that the mother starts to feed the child, gradually weaning from the chest, and even in connection with going to work, charging the baby grandmother or nanny. At this time to fight depression you can advise only one - as often as possible and more qualitatively communicate with your child.
At this age, the disease is difficult to determine, it can only help a specialist. Why is this happening? All this follows from the fact that parents do not perceive a small child as an intelligent person, consider him too small and not aware of the situation. It follows that the reason for this early depression is the parents themselves, who are not attentive to their children.
As the child grows older, the depressive state becomes much easier, because the symptoms are already visible to the naked eye: it is apathy, and reluctance to contact people, and indifference to the world around them.
Here the causes of the disease are somewhat different.
For a primary school student, depression can be expressed in the impossibility of maintaining a high concentration of attention, the appearance of memory problems, and problems with academic achievement begin.
Children suffering from depression can be divided into three groups:
• pupils who can be rude to the teacher, conflict with classmates, do not observe the discipline in the lesson, become uncontrollable. Such children unjustifiably overestimated self-esteem.
• Students who, in principle, cope with educational material, but suddenly can change their behavior, become apathetic, immersed in their inner world. This is due to the fact that the child's nervous system does not withstand a colossal training load or emotional overstrain.
• Sometimes it happens that external well-being (excellent study, good behavior) masks internal discord. Such schoolchildren are afraid to go to the blackboard, they learn a well-learned lesson, they are vaguely, emotionally react to the slightest criticism in their address. Gradually, the fear of being unprepared for lessons, towards a strict teacher grows into a reluctance to go to school.
In adolescents, depression is observed, mostly in the deviation of the norms of behavior: the child becomes aggressive, rude to everyone, often there are hysterics for any, even insignificant, occasion. The impetus to the onset of the disease can serve as any stress. At the sight of an adult, first love, exams, conflicts with friends or teachers, seem insignificant, and for a teenager they can be disastrous.
In no case should one seriously interfere in the child's affairs, make fun of it, make hasty conclusions, otherwise it can lead to tragic consequences. To avoid illness, parents need just to love their child without any conventions, feel free to show their affection, be attentive to its problems.
The atmosphere in the house should be friendly to the child, so that he would always want to return to where he is loved and respected, listen to his opinion. A home is a bulwark of all life, a place where you can hide from problems and turmoil.
Fortunately, depression is treated, but why struggle with it, if you can follow preventive measures, which are also not so complicated. It is only necessary, following the recommendations of doctors, to support the nervous system of children with vitamins and to organize a full-fledged diet rich in protein. Naturally, in the prevention and treatment of depression in children, the main role belongs to parents. We need to appreciate communication with the child, listen to his opinion and advice, warm his love, help in solving problems. In short, to do everything to make the child feel like a full-fledged personality, he learned to live in harmony with himself and the world around him. Depression and nerves in children and adolescents - the case, as doctors say, is remediable, but it is better to prevent it already at the earliest stage.