Children who are depressed may lose interest in doing things they used to enjoy. For example, your child may not want to play with friends or play sports any more. And your child may seem cranky.

Older children may start getting into trouble at school. It's normal for teenagers to have moods, but depression is more than just being moody.

Depression is an illness. It can get worse if it isn't treated. Depressed children may be at risk of suicide if they don't get the help they need. This illness can also stop your child from getting the most out of this important time in life.

Depressed children can be helped with the right treatment. As a parent, caregiver or teacher, don't wait more than a few weeks to see if a child's low mood goes away.

In these pages, we're looking at depression in children and teenagers ages 6 to 18.

It can be hard to convince young people that they might be ill and need help. If you're a teenager reading this and you think you or a friend might be depressed, see Teenagers and depression. It's important to get help.

We all feel down sometimes, but depression is more than feeling unhappy. It's a low mood that doesn't go away. It can affect how a child feels, thinks and behaves.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.
Depression in children and young people.
October 2005. Available at http://www.nice.org.uk/cg28 (accessed on 27 January 2009).

 

 

 

 

 

² Depression can make it hard for a child to get along with life and with others.

Even though a child may be feeling very low, this isn't always obvious. Many children and teenagers find it hard to talk about their low mood. They may be grumpy or they might stop doing things they once enjoyed, such as sports and playing with friends.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.
Depression in children and young people.
October 2005. Available at http://www.nice.org.uk/cg28 (accessed on 27 January 2009).

 

 

 

 

 

²

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
American Psychiatric Association.
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV).
4th edition. American Psychiatric Association, Washington DC, USA; 2000.

 

 

 

 

 

³

The depression can slow down children's thinking, too. They may start to blame themselves if even a small thing goes wrong. And a child may seem to have less energy. But they can be restless and anxious at the same time.

Depression in children is similar to depression in adults, but there are differences.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.
Depression in children and young people.
October 2005. Available at http://www.nice.org.uk/cg28 (accessed on 27 January 2009).

 

 

 

 

 

²

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
American Psychiatric Association.
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV).
4th edition. American Psychiatric Association, Washington DC, USA; 2000.

 

 

 

 

 

³ Children may deny feeling sad. They are more likely to say they feel down or grumpy. Teenagers may feel hopeless but won't be able to talk about it.

Besides being in a low mood, you might notice that your child:

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.
Depression in children and young people.
October 2005. Available at http://www.nice.org.uk/cg28 (accessed on 27 January 2009).

 

 

 

 

 

²

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
American Psychiatric Association.
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV).
4th edition. American Psychiatric Association, Washington DC, USA; 2000.

 

 

 

 

 

³

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Son SE, Kirchner JT.
Depression in children and adolescents.
American Family Physician. 2000; 62: 2297-2308, 2311-2312.

 

 

 

 

 

⁴

Some of these feelings happen in all children and teenagers from time to time. But with depression, these feelings build up and don't go away.

It's easy to miss the signs that a child or teenager is depressed. Young people often find it hard to talk about their feelings. Only a third of teenagers who need help for depression will ask for it.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.
Depression in children and young people.
October 2005. Available at http://www.nice.org.uk/cg28 (accessed on 27 January 2009).

 

 

 

 

 

² And younger children can't always explain the way they feel. That's why depression comes out in other ways, such as in having temper tantrums or headaches.

Other signs of depression, particularly in children, can include fear of school or fear of being away from parents.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Son SE, Kirchner JT.
Depression in children and adolescents.
American Family Physician. 2000; 62: 2297-2308, 2311-2312.

 

 

 

 

 

⁴ Some teenagers who are depressed also can't stop thinking about small things and are anxious.

Watching out for the early warning signs that a child might be depressed is important. Children and teenagers who have a low mood, but perhaps not enough for a diagnosis of depression, are at a high risk of getting worse.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.
Depression in children and young people.
October 2005. Available at http://www.nice.org.uk/cg28 (accessed on 27 January 2009).

 

 

 

 

 

²

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Summary of the practice parameters for the assessment and treatment of children and adolescents with depressive disorders.
Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. 1998; 37:1234-1238.

 

 

 

 

 

⁵ Take note if your child loses interest in their friends and usual activities and stops talking to other family members. To learn more, see Depression: the warning signs.

No one knows for sure what causes depression. We know that certain things that happen in life can put a child at risk for getting this illness. For example, they might have lost a parent or are being bullied at school. But depression is also linked to changes in how the brain works. This makes sense because how you think, feel, sleep and behave, and how hungry you feel are all controlled by your brain.

Your brain sends signals from cell to cell using chemicals called

 

 

 

 

 

neurotransmitters
Neurotransmitters are chemicals that help to carry messages between nerve cells. Serotonin, dopamine and noradrenaline are all neurotransmitters.

 

 

 

 

 

neurotransmitters. In adults who are depressed, the neurotransmitters called

 

 

 

 

 

norepinephrine
Norepinephrineis a neurotransmitter, which is a chemical that helps to send information between nerve cells. It is similar to epinephrine. Your body produces epinephrine when you're in stressful situations, which increases your blood pressure and heart rate.

 

 

 

 

 

norepinephrine and

 

 

 

 

 

serotonin
Serotonin is a neurotransmitter, which is a chemical that helps to send information from a nerve cell to other cells. It is thought to play a role in learning, sleep and control of mood.

 

 

 

 

 

serotonin don't work properly.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Doris A, Ebmeier K, Shajahan P.
Depressive illness.
Lancet. 1999; 354: 1369-1375.

 

 

 

 

 

⁶ But there's not enough research to know for sure if this happens in depressed children.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Mental health: Culture, race and ethnicity. A supplement to Mental Health: a report of the Surgeon General.
2001. Available at http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/ (accessed on 29 January 2009).

 

 

 

 

 

⁷

The

 

 

 

 

 

hormones
Hormones are chemicals that are made in certain parts of the body. They travel through the bloodstream and have an effect on other parts of the body. For example, the female sex hormone estrogen is made in a woman's ovaries. Estrogen has many different effects on a woman's body. It makes the breasts grow at puberty and helps control periods. It is also needed to get pregnant.

 

 

 

 

 

hormones that control many things in your child's body might cause depression if they're out of balance. Having too much of a hormone linked to stress, called cortisol, in the brain has been linked to depression.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Goodyer I.
Life events, their nature and effects.
In: Goodyer IM (editor). The depressed child and adolescent. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK; 2000.

 

 

 

 

 

⁸ The change in hormone levels that happens at

 

 

 

 

 

puberty
Puberty is the time when boys and girls develop secondary sexual characteristics. For boys, the major changes include pubic hair, a deeper voice, and growth of their penis and testicles. For girls, major changes include pubic hair, breasts and starting to have periods. After puberty, girls are able to become pregnant and boys are able to father children.

 

 

 

 

 

puberty may also trigger depression, especially in girls.

The word depression describes a range of emotions. We often say we're depressed when we're down in the dumps or feel miserable. Depression is also used to describe having no hope at all and avoiding others. These things stop you from doing what you used to enjoy or getting on with life.

Doctors sometimes use other words to describe different types of depression. In these pages, we are looking at how major depression can affect your child and be treated. But you may also find our information useful if your child has dysthymia. That's a milder but longer-lasting type of depression. For more, see Types of depression.

We don't really know what causes some children and teenagers to get depression. But there are things that increase a young person's chance of getting depressed. Doctors call these risk factors. Having these risk factors doesn't mean your child will get depression for sure. It just means that they're more likely to get it.

Some examples of things that put young people at risk for depression are lots of fighting with their parents, not having any close friends or having depression run in the family. Teenage girls are also more likely to get depression than teenage boys. For more, see Risk factors for depression in children and teenagers.

Lots of things can put your child at risk for depression. Depression is probably caused by a combination of many things and not just one thing.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.
Depression in children and young people.
October 2005. Available at http://www.nice.org.uk/cg28 (accessed on 27 January 2009).

 

 

 

 

 

²

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