Dr. Henry Paul, MD

Psychiatrist, Author and Educator

Tag Archives: NYC child psychiatry ADDHD

SIGNS OF DEPRESSION IN YOUNG PEOPLE

February 7th, 2014

Childhood depression is a great health challenge for our country.  Depressed children and teenagers often appear as if their personalities have changed.  Sadness is normal, but depression is more painful and deeper.   The symptoms of depression in a youngster may vary from child to child somewhat, but overall they are fairly easy to recognize if you know what to look for.

A depressed child is often sad, angry, irritable, cranky, whiny, and prone to rage at times, even violence.  Sleep and appetite patterns change, weight is lost, menstruation and normal bowel function are affected, personal appearance deteriorates, and serious fatigue could ensue as well.  Self-esteem is lowered and often the youngster feels like she is bad, a loser, worthless, unlikable and inferior.  Depressed young people often feel sick and have a host of pains – headaches, muscle stiffness, and stomach aches.  School functioning will decrease as concentration, attention and attendance drop off.  These kids will usually isolate from friends and family.  Communication is lessened and often irritation in short spurts is all that a parent sees.  Formerly fun activities give little pleasure and are sometimes replaced by risky pursuits and behavior.  Energy is low, and fatigue is high.  These depressed youngsters often look like they move in slow motion, heads down, slumped shoulders, with a sad and pained expression.  They appear to be apathetic.  Sometimes a depressed child will talk of running away or becomes angry at authority.

Suicide is a major concern with depression as the teen years approach.  Depressed young people often feel hopeless, a particularly worrisome sign that is associated with suicide.  Suicidal thoughts and even, tragically, successful attempts are not uncommon in teens.  There are warning sides to watch for with suicide.  I will address those in my next blog.

Fortunately, depression is a treatable condition if properly diagnosed.  If you suspect depression with your child you must act immediately.  Contact your pediatrician, the school counselor, your religious counselor, the local mental health association, or ask a friend who has been through this for a referral to a mental health professional. If you have further questions about the signs of depression, please email me.

DISCLAIMER
Information contained in this blog is intended for educational purposes only. It is not intended as medical or psychiatric advice for individual conditions or treatment and does not substitute for a medical or psychiatric examination. A psychiatrist must make a determination about any treatment or prescription. Dr. Paul does not assume any responsibility or risk for the use of any information contained within this blog.

YOUNG PEOPLE DO GET DEPRESSED

February 4th, 2014

At first our eight-year-old Ivan’s teachers thought he had ADHD. He would stare off, seemed consumed with daydreams, and never paid attention to his work. But one day he told his gym teacher that he was just too sad to participate in basketball and that he was always sad and lonely. Now I feel that my wife and I misread his crying in his room as a reaction to poor grades but maybe he’s just been depressed all these years. After all, he never seems to really enjoy anything for more than a few minutes, drops new hobbies, and rarely gets excited.

Joanne seemed sad and withdrawn when she heard about her friend Sally’s leukemia. We figured, “Who wouldn’t be?”  After ten days she seemed worse. She stayed in her room listening to Gregorian chants, started reading the Bible, and didn’t eat or even come out. Last night she said she felt guilty that she didn’t get sick herself. She said we would be better off without her around and wrote a poem about the joy of death.

For many years the psychiatric establishment didn’t believe that children could experience depression. We saw depressed children every day, but because many of the theories that informed our work implied that children had not reached a developmental stage capable of getting depressed, we could not call them depressed.

This backward thinking stopped much research and development of treatments for childhood depression. We now know this was shortsighted. As the stories above, and hundreds of thousands like them, attest, children and teenagers of all ages experience depression. According to the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry about 5 percent of children and adolescents in the general population suffer from depression at any given point in time.  Still, tragically, the great majority of these youngsters do not get proper evaluation or treatment due to limited availability of care and lack of compliance with treatment. This leads to high levels of family, educational, and social problems, as well as substance abuse and other psychiatric problems, and even suicide — one of the leading causes of death for adolescents in this country.

DISCLAIMER
Information contained in this blog is intended for educational purposes only. It is not intended as medical or psychiatric advice for individual conditions or treatment and does not substitute for a medical or psychiatric examination. A psychiatrist must make a determination about any treatment or prescription. Dr. Paul does not assume any responsibility or risk for the use of any information contained within this blog.