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How to know whether you child is depressed

Are you confused whether your child is clinically depressed or if it’s just a phase?
Let’s try to understand the difference between the two.
Clinical depression means a child is always in a depressed mood or there is a loss of interest in activities which leads to an impairment in his daily life which leads to a reduction of productivity in his daily life and not looking at life in a positive way.

A phase of depression or as many people calls it “bad days” where a person feels slow or sad without any reason is almost faced by everyone once in a while. This might be when he/she is not able to achieve something that he/she wants from his life at a certain point in time but as time moves on, one gets clearer about each and everything. So, this can be described as a phase of life where we might feel
low or sad as the circumstances in our lives aren’t how we want them to be.

So, coming to the question of the difference between actually being depressed or just feeling low we can look into the following details.
A child who is always depressed irrespective of the occasion, events, and daily routines and plans of the week is a clinically depressed child in comparison to the child who is just depressed only at a particular event/moment.

A child who is clinically depressed will always show symptoms mentioned below irrespective of any family gathering or if going to a party etc. This child will always be in a state of:-

1. Fatigue and loss of energy almost every day
2. Sadness and hopelessness
3. Irritability or anger
4. Insomniac or hypersomniac
5. Feeling of worthlessness and guilt every day
6. Frequent crying or tearfulness
7. Lack of enthusiasm and motivation
8. Restlessness or feeling slowed down

9. Feelings of worthlessness or guilt almost every day

10. No proper concentration, indecisiveness

11. Thoughts of death and suicide many times

So, as a result, it is difficult to study, work, eat, sleep, enjoy with friends and enjoy activities. He is not able to express his thoughts or he is not able to communicate clearly about what he is going through but yes, we can observe all the symptoms in him as mentioned above. So, parents who are aware and educated have to observe and keep an eye on their kid/child if the child is going through such symptoms.

This can be explained through an example; if a child is not able to get good scores in the exams even after studying hard before exams then also goes under sad/low moments because he was not able to get good scores which are disappointing for the child first and further to the parents too because nowadays, there is so much of competition that there is peer pressure on some children too to study and prove to their parents that they can be better. As a result of which children get depressed and go under sad/low moments and show some symptoms
of clinical depression-like feelings of worthlessness & guilt and lack of enthusiasm too. But if parents are communicating to them in a positive way and supporting them saying it is okay, we trust you, you will do better next time then the child feels motivated as there is a sense of support from his parents and tries to be motivated by this and get back to his/her routine. So, this state of mind can just be temporary and might not go on for prolonged periods.

On the other hand, if there is a family party going on and your child is sitting silently in a corner and when you ask him to play with the children of his age if your child shows a state of fatigue and is not interested to participate in the activities without any reason, it means he might be showing the symptoms of clinical depression. If you see the child showing disinterest in most of the activities and is not ready to participate or starts to isolate himself from his peers and family he might be slipping into depression. As this develops with age, major depression can compel people to commit suicide, at its worst. Hence, it is advisable that you refer to a psychologist or a counsellor before things get worse.

The National Health Association also urges parents to share such symptoms with their paediatrician that interferes with the day to day activities of their child and if in case it is persisting for seven to nine months.
Depression arises because of emotions and thoughts which certainly affects the physical behaviour of an individual. So, parents, it is advised to take care of your child and do take their emotional complaints and symptoms seriously to save the child from experiencing the traumas of depression.