Symptoms of Childhood Depression Part 3

This post will be a continuation of previous posts about symptoms of childhood depression.  My information is coming from my education and my own experiences as someone who suffered from childhood depression as well as my experiences working with psychiatric patients and clients.

 

If a caregiver has any concerns that a child is suffering from depression; have the child assessed by a therapist, counselor or other mental health professional.  Most of these symptoms are normal to have every now and then but if you notice a child has 3 or more of these symptoms that occur most of the day, nearly every day for more than 2 weeks then it could be a concern.  Now back to the symptoms. 

 

A depressed child may sleep too much or not enough.  Again depression affects children differently and symptoms can vary from child to child.  One child may sleep more and a different child my sleep less. 

 

The child may sleep longer or more often.  He may go to bed earlier and sleep later or may nap more often.  A child who rarely took naps before may take several naps a day.  One problem you may have is you think your child is sleeping but he may just be in bed crying and thinking terrible thoughts, pretending he is asleep. 

 

Some depressed children may have trouble sleeping.  She may have a hard time falling asleep.  If she does fall asleep, she may wake up in the middle of the night and have trouble falling back to sleep or the child may wake up too early and have trouble falling back to sleep. 

 

A child may have trouble sleeping because all the negative thoughts they have are constantly running through their mind keeping them up.  Some depressed children can’t calm their brains down enough to fall asleep or some children may not want to sleep because of bad dreams or nightmares.   

 

Some depressed children may be more agitated than usual.  A child may have trouble sitting still.  The child may pace the floor.  They may fiddle with their clothes or other objects.  The child may seem on edge all the time and may startle more easily.  If your child has never had ADHD but you notice these agitated behaviors, it might be a concern. 

 

It may take a depressed child longer to think.  It may take the child longer to answer a question.  Their brain may need extra time because they can have trouble focusing, concentrating or understanding and may need more time to figure out what you want.  They may be so overwhelmed by their inner negative thoughts that it’s hard for them to pay attention to anything else. Also, their speech may be slower.  They may speak with a softer voice or they may not speak at all. 

 

A depressed child may say he’s always tired or he may seem very tired most of the time.  The child may want to just sit around or lie around and do nothing.  When a child does do something they may complain it’s too tiring.  It may take more effort for a child to do things.  It may take longer for a child to do things, maybe even twice as long.  I know from experience sometimes it’s hard to just move.  Depression, especially childhood depression, is exhausting.

 

I’ll end here for now.  My next post will be more about symptoms of childhood depression then I’ll move onto shyness and childhood depression.  Thank you for taking the time to try and understand childhood depression better.  I welcome comments.  I just ask that you be respectful.