Depression: A troubleshooting guide for parents

By Adams Media

You want to provide the best for your children, but sometimes you can’t do it alone. If your child has been diagnosed with a serious medical condition, you may be overwhelmed with the challenges ahead. The Everything® Healthy Living Series is here to help. These concise, thoughtful guides offer the expert advice and the latest medical information you need to understand your child’s condition and provide the best possible care.

Inside you’ll find expert advice and helpful tips on recognizing the causes and symptoms of depression, seeking professional help, and treatment options, along with thoughtful suggestions on helping your child cope with depression.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Release date: May 1, 2012
• ISBN: 9781440545580

Adams Media

At Adams Media, we don’t just publish books—we craft experiences that matter to you. Whether you’re diving deep into spirituality, whipping up delights in the kitchen, or planning your personal finances, our diverse range of lifestyle books, decks, journals, and more is designed to feed your curiosity. The Adams team strives to publish content that celebrates readers where they are—and where they’re going.

Book preview

The Everything Healthy Kids Series: Depression cover

The Everything Healthy Kids Series

Depression

A troubleshooting guide for parents

Adams Media, a division of F+W Media, Inc.

Avon, Massachusetts

Contents

Introduction

Getting a Handle on Childhood Depression

Do Kids Really Get Depressed?

Prevalence in Children and Teens

Theories of Depression

What Is Depression Exactly?

Childhood Versus Teenage Depression

Behavioral Symptoms

Emotional Symptoms

Causes of Depression

Genetics

Brain Chemistry

Physical Illness

The Family Environment

Loss

Television and Other Influences

Predictors of Depression

Family History

Loss

Sleep and Appetite

Behavior

Comments

Helplessness

Self-esteem

Strategies for Children

Education

Cognitive Restructuring

Problem-solving Skills

Communication Skills

Labeling Emotions

Seeking Outlets for Emotional Expression

Demystifying the Stigma of Mental Illness

Prevention

Open Communication

Teaching Communication Skills

Physical Activity

Creative Outlets

Education

Fostering Self-esteem

Also Available

Copyright Page

Introduction

For more than 10 years, millions of readers have trusted the bestselling Everything series for expert advice and important information on parenting and health topics ranging from pregnancy and postpartum care to asthma, dyslexia, and juvenile diabetes. Packed with the most recent, up-to-date data, Everything guides help you get the right diagnosis, choose the best doctor, and find the treatment options that work for your child.

The Everything Healthy Kids Series books are concise guides, focusing on only the essential information you need. Whether you’re looking for information on how to treat ailments in children from infants to teenagers, advice on raising happy, well-adjusted kids, or suggestions for how to get your child to eat the right foods, there’s an Everything Healthy Kids Book for you.

Depression

Most people have felt sad, blue, and generally unmotivated at some point in their life. When asked what was wrong, inevitably they’d say, I’m depressed, or My life is so depressing, or I’ve had the most depressing week. The way in which they dealt with those emotions varied depending on the circumstances. Some laid in bed watching movies, waiting for the depression to go away. Others ate or drank their way through it. Still others got busy, thinking if they could just get their mind off of their depression, they’d be fine. Eventually, the depression would lift and things would go back to normal.

That wasn’t depression; that was the blues, a few days of feeling yucky and a few days spent medicating one’s self in the best way you knew possible. The word depression has been bantered about so much that it has lost its meaning in most contexts. It is now used to describe anything that feels unpleasant.

Real depression is devastating. It feels as if it is going to last forever, and it rarely just goes away. Those who have been through it will tell you that it’s a long, slow road to recovery. Only through the identification of it as an illness and its subsequent treatment can most people overcome it.

According to the World Health Organization, by the year 2020, depression will rank second as the cause of a loss of healthy years in one’s life (number one is heart disease). While most parents do not want to think it’s true, the prevalence of depression among children is growing at an alarming rate. Unfortunately, most research is focused on the treatment rather than the prevention of depression.

How can the amount of people suffering from depression be reduced? It seems obvious that you would start with your children. While much depression is hereditary and related to problems with brain chemistry, a child who has had a parent with depression is not necessarily destined to become depressed. Depression can be prevented in many cases.

There are myriad things you can do to help prevent your children from becoming depressed or to treat those who are already suffering. It is a teaching process, and it involves much hands-on parenting. No one expects parents to know intrinsically how to do this, but it can be learned and passed on to your children.

Since depression prevention programs are still few and far between, you, as the parent, must become the first major team player in the prevention and treatment of your child’s depression. Part of your work requires that you become as educated as possible about the causes, risk factors, and chemical factors that can cause depression. You’ll also need to acquire healthy parenting skills that will prepare your child to become resilient, self-reliant, and emotionally flexible. These are the skills that your child will need to not only beat depression but also to have a successful, happy life.

If you’d like to learn more about depression, check out The Everything Parent’s Guide to Children with Depression, available in print (978-1-59869-264-8) and eBook (978-1-60550-261-8) formats.

Getting a Handle on Childhood Depression

To think that your child is depressed is a scary prospect. Sometimes it seems that the more you read and research about depression, the more daunting and overwhelming it becomes. Yet knowledge is power, and when it comes to mental illness, it is better to know too much than not enough. By getting a thorough understanding about childhood depression, you will be prepared to make the best decisions designed to meet your child’s individual needs.

Do Kids Really Get Depressed?

Even though people prefer to think of childhood as a happy time, free from worry and stress, it is not always the case. As life has become increasingly more complex, children are faced with more challenges than ever before. If adults are having trouble navigating their worlds and all of the problems that naturally occur, imagine what it must be like for children! Popular thought used to be that children didn’t suffer from such complex disorders and thus labeling a child with depression merely provided an excuse for the behavior being exhibited.

Adolescence

As for adolescence, it is a period filled with hormones, rebellion, and moodiness. How easy it is to dismiss an adolescent’s latest phase as just being a teenager! One mother used to call it the uglies whenever her daughter flew into a crying rage. She readily admitted that she secretly believed the child was behaving