Childhood and Depression - Research Paper Example

Researchers propose that although major depression affects anywhere from three to five percent of children and adolescents, up to 15 percent of children and adolescents at any given time manifest at least some symptoms of depression (Bhatia and Bhatia 73). Despite the prevalence of depression in younger populations, there are a number of treatment avenues that parents and guardians can follow in order to alleviate an individual’s suffering in those areas of life most affected by depression.

In order to prevent future generations from being severely and negative impacted by depression starting in the childhood or adolescent years, professionals and parents should be better educated to recognize the risk factors and the symptoms. Childhood depression, particularly in children younger than seven years, is particularly difficult because of children’s inability to give details about their internal mood states. However, symptoms like chronic irritableness, impaired attention, and poor concentration are common possible indicators of a depressed child.

When diagnosing depression in children, doctors must rule out physical causes of such symptoms, such as chronic disease and vitamin deficiency. If the depression is the result of these physical causes, the depression is considered secondary to its medical prerequisite. Major depressive disorder is a primary diagnosis that relies on symptoms similar to those seen in adult depression. If the depression is not a major disorder, it could either be classified as adjustment disorder, which starts within three months of an identifiable stressor (such as the loss of a parent), or as dysthymic disorder, which is a milder form of depression characterized by irritable or depressed moods and must occur for no less than a year (Bhatia and Bhatia 75).

The risk factors for depression are not equivalent to causes, since none of them alone leads directly and invariably to childhood depression. Some common risk factors for childhood and adolescent depression include psychosocial and biomedical factors; that is, nearly two thirds of children and adolescents who have major depressive disorder are comorbid with another severe or moderate mental disorder (Angold, Costello and Erkanli 76). That means that even if a child or adolescent has been diagnosed for one mental disorder, there should still be a concern that the patient has a related but separate mental disposition toward major or moderate depression.

For physicians, they must be able to recognize and treat the associated physical sources of depression; the most common among them are dysthymic disorder, anxiety disorders, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. For parents, they must be able to identify and seek treatment for their child’s symptoms as soon as they recognize them. In terms of treatments, medication is a common avenue for physicians to take in order to alleviate their patients’ suffering because of depression symptoms.

Tricyclic anti-depressants are largely ineffective in children and adolescents according to meta-analyses and SSRIs likewise have underwhelming effects on reduction of symptoms in children (Bhatia and Bhatia 78). Concerns about effectiveness and safety keep some parents from putting their children on these medications (Merrell 209). Currently, only fluoxetine is approved by the FDA to treat childhood depression, so it is acceptable in cases of major depressive