The Cleveland Clinic reports that depression “can affect people of any age, including children. Although children naturally have mood swings as they grow and develop, depression is different.” Depression in childhood impacts how children engage with loved ones and in activities.
The average age of onset for major depressive disorder is between 35 and 40 years of age. Onset in early adulthood may be linked with more depressive episodes, a longer duration of illness, and therefore a more difficult clinical course.
It's normal for children and teens to feel down sometimes. When kids experience a difficult event such as the loss of a loved one, for example, they may feel grief or deep sadness. For a while, they may not be able to feel happy even when doing the things they usually enjoy.
Brief periods of depression are common in most adolescents. However, supportive interpersonal relationships and healthy coping skills can help prevent such periods from leading to more severe depressive symptoms. Open communication with your teen can help identify depression earlier.
Depression does not only affect adults. Children and young people can get depressed too. It's important to get help early if you think your child may be depressed. The longer it goes on, the more likely it is to disrupt your child's life and turn into a long-term problem.
Depressed teenagers may be at risk of suicide, even if signs and symptoms don't appear to be severe. If you're a teen and you think you may be depressed — or you have a friend who may be depressed — don't wait to get help. Talk to a health care provider such as your doctor or school nurse.
Excessive crying in a teenager may indicate they are struggling with an underlying issue, such as adolescent depression. The ongoing feelings of sadness and worthlessness associated with depression can prompt frequent crying spells with no single, identifiable cause.
While it may feel you're sad for no reason, something is likely causing your negative mood. Many factors can contribute to chronic sadness. “The changes in the seasons, feeling stressed or overwhelmed, feeling jealous or left out, being tired or hungry… any type of emotional change can come across as sadness.”
Severe grief or disruption can cause anyone to cry, and that's normal. Prolonged crying that persists without reason is not normal and may indicate a serious condition requiring treatment.
Children are more likely to experience sad moods when they are dealing with tough life circumstances. For example, children who are managing family separation, grief, physical illness, learning problems, family poverty, family ill health or other tough life situations are more likely to experience frequent sadness.
Research suggests that parental patterns of irritability and withdrawal lead to low self-esteem in the child, and this poor self-image predisposes the child to depression. Childhood depression is also associated with a family history of mood disorders and with the existence of other psychiatric conditions.
A new study finds the average American feels the most stressed at 36 years-old.
For example, depression is more common among women than men. The median age of onset for depression is 32 years, meaning that half of people who will ever have a depressive episode will have had their first episode by this age.
feeling tense, nervous or unable to relax. having a sense of dread, or fearing the worst. feeling like the world is speeding up or slowing down. feeling like other people can see you're anxious and are looking at you.
There's no single cause of depression. It can occur for a variety of reasons and it has many different triggers. For some people, an upsetting or stressful life event, such as bereavement, divorce, illness, redundancy and job or money worries, can be the cause. Different causes can often combine to trigger depression.
Sadness usually passes with time. If it does not pass, or if the person becomes unable to resume normal function, this could be a sign of depression. If low mood gets worse or lasts longer than 2 weeks, the person should talk to their doctor.
The longest and deepest downturn in the history of the United States and the modern industrial economy lasted more than a decade, beginning in 1929 and ending during World War II in 1941.
There's no cure for depression, but there are lots of effective treatments. People can recover from depression and live long and healthy lives.
Kids cry because they feel the innate need to express themselves. We all know that adolescents experience hormone changes during puberty and into their teenage years. Teenagers are prone to cry all through pre-adulthood. Obviously, emotions run higher in some young people than others.