Remember when you were a child and you had nothing to worry about? No bills, no job to have to go to, none of the adult worries that we, as grownups, face every day. How fun was your life back then without having any childhood depression? Every day was new and exciting and you looked forward to getting out of bed to start your day of fun.
But was it really that way? Was every day one full of bliss and fun? Today’s world is vastly different and the children are feeling the stresses and troubles of the world causing childhood depression in kids.
Depression is not just something that adults suffer from; children suffer from depression as well. The major problem with childhood depression is that children can’t talk about their depression because they don’t know what it is they are experiencing. That is why it is so important that the adults in the child’s life are diligent and watch for the signs of childhood depression in their child.
The stresses that trouble us as adults have huge consequences for our children. It may not be visible to you but kids could be silently suffering childhood depression. Children can feel, and hear, our distress when feel it. A divorce or job loss may be highly traumatic for us as adults, but our children feel those stresses as well. Not to mention the problems that arise if the child has a learning problem, is being abused, lives in poverty or is neglected. These factors all can lead to a child becoming depressed hence developing childhood depression.
But even the child who has the perfect life and is loved and has none of these problems can become depressed. Just like adults, depression can strike anybody.
Depression is caused by an imbalance in the brain and is a biologically based illness. This means that anything, even something as simple as not being chosen for a sports team, can lead to the child succumb to childhood depression.
A child has a much different view of the world than we do. As adults, we have learned the ways the world works, but children have not figured that out yet and even the smallest thing can send them into a depressed state. Children do not have the proper terms or words that we have as adults, so the feelings they are going through are hard for them to tell us about. This can lead to the child suffering from childhood depression because they may feel that they are not normal, or stupid, which is not true, but that is how they may begin to feel.
As an adult in a child’s life, you have to be aware of your child’s moods and ask questions if his or her actions or moods change. Children can and do become depressed. We have to make sure we are there to help them so that they don’t have to go through childhood depression and understand that they are normal and that there is help for them.