Symptoms of Childhood Depression Part 4

 This post will be my last post, for now, on possible symptoms of childhood depression.  My next posts will be about shyness and childhood depression.  As I’ve said before, my information is coming from my education, my own experiences suffering with childhood depression and my experiences working with the mentally ill. 

 

If a caregiver has any concerns that a child is suffering from depression, have the child assessed by a mental health professional.  If you notice that a child has 3 or more of these symptoms for most of the day, nearly every day for more than 2 weeks it could be a concern. 

 

Childhood depression is very difficult to go through.  It truly is living in Hell.  A depressed child may think they are not good enough or that they are bad even if they never get into trouble.  They may say they are stupid or nobody likes them.  They may think everything is their fault.  Everything they think about themselves is very negative.     

 

Depressed children may constantly think about past failure or rejection.  They may constantly think about future failure or rejection.  They may think that they’ll never be good at anything, like there is no hope for them.  Hopelessness is the worst thing about childhood depression.  Children are supposed to feel like they can accomplish anything but depressed children may not be able to see any goodness or light in their future.      

 

A depressed child may also have trouble remembering things.  They may have trouble learning something new.  As I said in a previous post, their brain may have trouble focusing, concentrating and understanding.  They may be easily distracted.  Their grades may drop.  They may have trouble at school.  They may have behavior problems or they may not participate in class or during out of class activities.  They may have trouble or be afraid of making decisions or answering questions because of low self-esteem and lack of self-confidence. 

 

I’d like to add a note here.  If your child does well in school and makes good grades it doesn’t mean she’s not depressed.  I did really well in school, I made good grades, I never got into any kind of trouble but I suffered from depression my entire childhood.      

 

This will be the last symptom of childhood depression that I will talk about for now.  It is also the worst symptom.  A child who is depressed may think a lot about death or suicide.  They may try to kill themselves.  A depressed child may talk a lot about death or ask a lot of questions about death like, “Does it hurt?”  The child may ask a lot of questions about heaven, God and Jesus.  They may seem preoccupied with dying.  

 

No one wants to think a child is in so much pain that they will kill themselves but I know from my own experiences some depressed children see death as a way out of their unbearable pain, maybe the only way out.  I tried to kill myself when I was 8 then again when I was 9 but nobody ever knew.  I hid it because I didn’t want to be stopped but I will talk more about childhood suicide attempts in future posts.    

 

I really hope these posts about symptoms of childhood depression have been helpful.  My next few posts will be about shyness and childhood depression and anxiety.  I’d appreciate any comments.  I’m also interested in hearing about other people’s experiences with childhood depression and their symptoms.  I just ask that everyone be respectful of others.  Thank you so much.