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Depression in children and young people

What are the symptoms?

The symptoms of depression in children and young people, as with adults, include changes in mood, thinking and behaviour. The key symptoms are:

  • persistent sadness or low (irritable) mood;
  • loss of interests and/or pleasure;
  • fatigue or low energy levels.

These core symptoms may also be accompanied by:

  • Change in sleeping patterns - poor or increased sleep;
  • Agitation or slowing of movement;
  • Change in eating habits - poor or increased appetite;
  • Low self-confidence and indecisiveness;
  • Feelings of guilt, self blame or worthlessness;
  • Lack of concentration leading to lower school performance;
  • Self harm and possible suicidal feelings;
  • Withdrawal from communication with other children and young people.

Children and young people may find it difficult to voice or describe their feelings and the stigma associated with mental illness can also make diagnosis difficult. The onset of symptoms may be masked by what are thought of by adults as some of the usual aspects of childhood and adolescence such as irritability and changes in enjoyment of, or participation in, previously liked activities.

View Background Background  |  What are the causes? View What are the causes?

Medical text written March 2006 by Contact a Family and Professor D Cottrell, Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Leeds University, Leeds, UK.

 

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