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  • What We Treat
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    • Addiction Guide
      • Adderall Guide | Side Effects
      • Alcohol Addiction
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      • Bipolar Disorder: Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, Treatment
      • Is bipolar disorder genetic and triggered later on?
      • Is cognitive therapy effective for bipolar disorder?
    • Children & Adolescents Guide
      • 10 Warning Signs of Teenage Mental Illness
      • Munchausen Syndrome
      • How Does Social Media Affect Teenagers’ Mental Health?
      • Oppositional Defiant Disorder
      • Spotting Types of Depression in Children
      • Teen Suicide
      • Top Tips For Parents
      • Video Game Therapy for ADHD
      • What is a Residential Mental Health Facility for Teenagers Like
      • Why Is Mental Health on the Rise Amongst Teenagers?
    • Is Social Media Ruining Our Self-Esteem? 
    • Mental Health Guide
      • COVID Counseling to Battle Mental Health Issues
      • Guide to Anxiety Medication
      • Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder
      • High Functioning Depression | Signs | Symptoms
      • How Can We Prevent Mental Illness in Youth?
      • How Do You Help Someone with Avoidant Personality?
      • How Does Online Counseling Work for Mental Health?
      • How Can a Mental Health Counselor Help
      • Mental Breakdown
      • Schizoid Personality Disorder
      • Postpartum Depression
      • Types of Mood Disorders
      • The Toll of Grief and How to Cope with It
      • What are The Major Affective Disorders?
      • What Cognitive Psychology Teaches Us About How We Think
      • What Is Clinical Mental Health Counseling
      • What are mental health symptoms you should never ignore?
      • What is Bipolar II Disorder? Symptoms and Treatment
      • What is the Difference Between Manic and Hypomanic?
      • What is schizoaffective disorder?
      • Is seasonal affective disorder (SAD) a mental illness?
      • What is substance induced mood disorder?
      • Is Depression a Permanent Mental Disorder?
      • What is the prognosis for Major Depressive Disorder?
    • Marriage Counseling | Benefits
    • Pandemic Related Issues
      • COVID Counseling to Battle Mental Health Issues
      • Work Stress Post-Pandemic
      • Shocking Growth of Anxiety During the Pandemic
    • Relationship Issues
      • How to deal with toxic relationship?
      • How does a toxic relationship affect your mental health?
      • What is gaslighting in a relationship?
      • What is the best way to help a partner who has trust issues?
      • What’s the best way to work out relationship problems?
      • 10 ways to improve communication in relationships
    • Spirituality in Addiction Treatment  
    • Therapy
      • Can I See a Psychiatrist Without a Referral?
      • DBT Therapy for Adolescents
      • DCBT- Digital Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
      • Deep Brain Stimulation to Treat OCD
      • Do I Need a Referral to See a Therapist?
      • Family Therapy: Definition, Types, Techniques, and Efficacy
      • How Can Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) Help Mental Disorders?
      • EMDR Therapy for Mental Health Conditions
      • Psychiatrist vs. Psychologist
      • Is Therapy Covered by Health Insurance?
      • Psychodynamic Therapy vs CBT
      • Psychotherapy
      • SMART Recovery
      • What Can Psychologists Treat
      • What is Group Therapy
      • What is Internal Family Systems Therapy
      • What Is the Role of the Counselor in Family Therapy
      • What Is Psychoanalysis
    • Trauma Bonding With Intimate Partner Violence
    • Teen Mental Health
      • Can a Minor Go to Therapy Without Parents Permission?
      • Teen Co-Occurring Disorders
      • What are the signs of depression in adolescents?
      • warning signs of suicide in adolescents
      • Mental Health Benefits of Exercise in Teens
      • How is the pandemic affecting mental health in teenagers?
    • Types of Disorder
      • Anti-Social Personality Disorder
      • Autism Spectrum Disorder
      • Avoidant Personality Disorder
      • Bipolar Disorder Symptoms | Causes | Diagnosis
      • Diagnosing and Treating an Adjustment Disorder
      • Histrionic Personality Disorder
      • Intermittent Explosive Disorder
      • Paranoid Personality Disorder
    • Veterans Guide
      • Functional Medicine for Military
      • Service Dogs Help Veterans with PTSD
    • Process Addiction
      • Gambling addiction
      • How do you know if you have an addictive personality?
      • What is Impulse-Control Disorder?
      • Process Addiction

Spotting Types of

Depression in Children

Learn the three most common types of depression in children, how to diagnose each type, and possible options for treatment.

What is Depression?

Basic Definition

Depression is a serious mental health disorder that can affect anyone regardless of their age, gender, or ethnicity. A person suffering from depression may experience feelings of sadness, loss, or anger, although the symptoms can vary from mild to severe. Depression is regarded as a serious medical condition that can worsen over time and heavily impact someone’s mental health without proper treatment.

How Many Children Have Depression?

Studies show that the rates of depression in children have been on the rise. According to the National Survey of Children’s Health survey, 3.2% of children (or around 1.9 million) ages 3 to 17 in the US suffer from depression.1

Depression in children has increased over time. In 2003, 5.4% of children ages 6-17 said they have been diagnosed with either anxiety or depression at some point in their life. The number grew to 8% in 2007 and 8.4% in 2011-2012.2

What are the Main Types of Depression in Children?

Although there are many types of depressive disorders, the most common types of depression in children include bipolar depression, major depressive disorder, and high-functioning depression.

Bipolar Depression

Bipolar depression can happen as part of bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder is characterized by an emotional state swinging back and forth from high to low. It is most commonly diagnosed in older children and teenagers, although it can happen in children of any age.

The child may experience periods of intense joy or heightened activity, followed by bouts of severe depression with feelings of sadness, irritability, and agitation.

Major Depressive Disorder

Major depressive disorder (MMD) is a severe condition in which the child experiences episodes of depression. The condition can be diagnosed if the child experiences at least five symptoms for more than two weeks and the symptoms cause significant impairment in the child’s ability to function.

In 2016, around 12.8% of children ages 12-17 in the US were diagnosed with at least one major depressive episode. Studies show that an estimated 8% of adolescents diagnosed with MDD have committed suicide. Major depressive disorder makes suicide the second leading cause of death among adolescents 12-17 years of age.3

High Functioning Depression

High-functioning depression is the third of the three most common types of depression in children. It is a milder mood disorder than MDD. Although the symptoms are milder, this type of chronic depression is longer lasting than other forms of depression. For a child to be diagnosed with high functioning depression, they must experience the symptoms of depression for at least one year.

The child may appear to be completely normal and show no signs of emotional distress or impairment in their day-to-day life. Compared to children with MDD, children with high functioning depression can attend school and participate in activities in a normal manner. Parents of these children may think their child is shy or introverted rather than suffering from high functioning depression.

The Signs and Diagnosis of Depression in Children

Spotting Types of Depression in Children | PacificBeachHealth

Behavioral

Setting boundaries and expectations for children help them develop crucial life skills, such as patience, problem-solving, responsibility, and self-discipline.
  • Loss of interest in school
  • Loss of interest in activities the child used to enjoy
  • Poor academic performance
  • Social withdrawal
  • A change in appearance
  • Using drugs or alcohol (especially if the child is over age 12)
  • Eating less than usual or overeating
  • Thoughts about death or suicide (especially when the child is upset or angry)

Physical

Setting boundaries and expectations for children help them develop crucial life skills, such as patience, problem-solving, responsibility, and self-discipline.
  • Feeling unprovoked sadness
  • Increased irritability, anger, or hostility
  • Difficulty concentrating
  • Feelings of hopelessness and worthlessness
  • Fatigue and low energ
  • Headaches and stomachaches

These symptoms are common for all types of depression in children, including bipolar depression and major depressive disorder.

Diagnosing Types of Depression in Children

There are several ways of diagnosing the types of depression in children, including:

  • Depression test
  • Beck’s Depression Inventory
  • Depression in ICD-10
  • Depression in DSM-5

These symptoms are common for all types of depression in children, including bipolar depression and major depressive disorder.

Depression Test

There are no specific tests that can detect childhood depression with 100% certainty. However, tools such as depression tests and interviews by a mental health professional can help make an accurate diagnosis. In fact, a depression test can be a valuable first step toward getting treatment.

If you notice that your child exhibits symptoms of depression, take a screener test and bring the results to your pediatrician or mental health professional for evaluation. Your primary care doctor may also be able to do the screening.

Beck’s Depression Inventory

The Beck Depression Inventory is a multiple-choice inventory that evaluates key symptoms of depression. It includes 21 items that reflect the most common symptoms and attitudes in clinically depressed individuals. It tests for symptoms such as mood, sense of failure, suicidal ideas, social withdrawal, loss of appetite, etc.

Depression in ICD-10

ICD is a medical classification list created by the World Health Organization (WHO). ICD-10 is the tenth revision of that list. It contains codes for diseases, along with signs and symptoms, complaints, abnormal findings, social circumstances, and external causes of injury or diseases. General practitioners may use ICD-10 as a screening tool to assess depression in symptomatic patients.

Depression in DSM-5

DSM-5 is the standard classification of mental disorders used by clinicians, researchers, and public health officials in the United States. It serves as the principal authority for diagnosing mental health disorders, including depression. A child’s symptoms must fit the criteria outlined in the DSM-5 for them to be diagnosed with depression.

According to the criteria, an individual must be experiencing five or more of the symptoms listed in the DSM-5 during two weeks. In addition, the individual should either have symptoms of depressed mood or loss of interest or pleasure.

Treating Depression in Children

Depression Medications

Depression medications are sometimes prescribed to alleviate the symptoms of depression in children. Clinicians prescribe medications if the patient is suffering from more severe depression or if therapy alone is not effective in treating the condition. The FDA has approved some depression medications for use in children, including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) like Zoloft, Prozac, and Lexapro, and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) like Strattera and Cymbalta.

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive-behavioral therapy is an effective treatment for depression in children. It is a type of therapy that addresses the relationship between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. CBT typically involves active participation in self-directed learning about one’s thought processes and how these relate to moods and behavior patterns.

DBT Therapy

DBT is a type of psychotherapy that focuses on interpersonal relationships and emotions. It is an empirically validated treatment for depression, with research showing it has the highest rates of success in treating suicidal patients who have failed to get better from other treatments. DBT therapy for children adds an extensive parent training component to the model to fit the needs of children in this age range.

Child Psychiatrists

Speaking with a child psychiatrist can help your child learn skills to cope with negative feelings. They may educate your child about their depressive disorder and offer the best coping strategies to help with managing the symptoms.

Resources

  1. https://www.cdc.gov/childrensmentalhealth/data.html
  2. https://www.cdc.gov/childrensmentalhealth/features/anxiety-depression-children.html
  3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6213890/

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