Depression is not an adult-only diagnostic category; children, unfortunately, can also suffer from childhood depression, and it’s important to know what interventions can help them overcome this situation.
In childhood, without sadness, depression usually manifests as irritation. Children also tend to have more trouble sleeping.
- Childhood depression has a similar incidence in both sexes.
- But the same does not happen in adolescence.
- When the prevalence is higher among women and continues to be observed into adulthood.
The factors that can cause childhood depression are varied and none alone is enough to develop the disease. The combination of genetic or hereditary variables and a dysfunctional environment can provide it.
If a parent has suffered or suffers from depression, the child is much more likely to have depression as well. School, extracurricular requirements, and authoritarian and contradictory ordinances are also risk factors.
Next, we’ll talk about some of the most effective psychological treatments we currently have for childhood depression.
The good news is that children benefit more than adults from the psychological approach, in that sense we can find great hope.
With regard to pharmacotherapy, can it be indicated that, while in adult depression, pharmacological and psychological therapies have proven to be effective and are considered first choice alternatives, in the case of childhood and adolescent depression only psychological therapy?And, in particular, behavioral therapy – it has enough empirical evidence.
Therefore, drugs in children are less effective than in adults and cause more side effects.
With regard to existing therapies, we can highlight the following
It is important to work to prevent childhood depression. To do this, parenting would be a good start, as well as the need to set firm and safe limits for children.
On the other hand, an environment rich in positive reinforcements can also prevent the development of childhood depression, for this to happen it is essential that parents understand that it is positive for their children to have substantial time playing free or with other children.
Punishments should be applied according to behavior and always for corrective and non-punitive purposes. Obviously, corporal punishment is totally discouraged in any form, even if it is mild.
However, if depression has already occurred, cognitive behavioral therapy would be the treatment of choice, as it is the only form of psychotherapy on which there is strong evidence of efficacy in children who have not reached puberty.
For adolescents, the two alternatives of choice are cognitive behavioral and interpersonal therapy. Both therapies have at least 2 intergroup experimental studies in which treatment was found to be statistically superior to no intervention or placebo.