How can you tell if your child has depression?

Over recent years, there’s been a growing focus on children’s mental health and wellbeing – particularly with the added pressures of things like the pandemic and social media.

According to children and young people’s mental health charity Place2Be, one in five children experience mental health difficulties, with half identifying these by age 14.  Between 2021 and 2022, almost a million children and young people accessed mental health services.

So, can children get depressed, and how can you tell? And what can parents and carers do to support them?

Can children get depression?

Dr Seb Thompson, consultant psychologist for Cygnet Health