Health: depressed children,.

Health: Depressed children, depressed adults http://www.sptimes.com/News/81199/news_pf/Health/Depressed_childr.
Depressed children, depressed adults
A child going through a "phase" may actually be clinically depressed. Recognizing serious
behavioral changes and treating them with therapy and medication can prevent a lifelong
downward spiral.
St. Petersburg Times, published August 11, 1999 If your child can't seem to shake the blues, don't chalk it up to growing pains. Those down-in-the-dumpsfeelings could be something more serious.
One in 33 children and one in eight adolescents suffer from depression, says the National Alliance for MentalIllness. Clinicians estimate that two to three percent of children may have severe clinical depression.
The majority of seriously depressed children go undiagnosed and untreated, leading to failures at school,substance abuse and suicide. Psychiatrists say early diagnosis is the key to preventing a lifelong downwardspiral, but diagnosis is difficult.
"The biggest problem in identifying depression in children is that people don't accept that it happens and don'tsee it when it does. That includes many physicians," says Nada Stotland, a psychiatrist at Illinois MasonicMedical Center in Chicago.
Why don't we easily see, or accept, the reality of depression in children? Perhaps we too often tend to thinkof depression as an affliction of midlife, something that happens when marriages fail, when bills becomeoverwhelming, when careers are less than what we'd hoped for. But psychiatrists are learning that depressedadults were most likely depressed as children and never treated.
The symptoms and signs of depression in children are often not immediately clear to parents. As a result, adepressed child with symptomatic or radically changing behavior may never be evaluated for depression by adoctor.
"Changed behaviors may be seen as a "stage,' " Stotland says. Even psychiatrists, who use a guide called theDiagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders to make diagnoses, have trouble pinpointing depressionin children.
The manual is meant to diagnose depression in adults, and depressed children don't always exhibit the samesigns and symptoms listed in the manual.
Observing a child's behavior may be the only clue to depression, but if children are seen and not heard,symptoms may not catch anyone's attention. Humberto Nagera, a child psychiatrist and professor ofpsychiatry at the University of South Florida School of Medicine, says that children and adolescents can getdepressed very easily.
"Like depressed adults, depressed children can be sad and gloomy. But depression in children often manifestsitself as irritability and anger," says Paramjit Joshi, clinical services director of the division of child andadolescent psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center. "Children with depression may have sleepproblems. They may wake in the middle of the night. Younger children may revert to past behaviors theyhave outgrown, such as bed wetting, or be suddenly unable to do a task they have already mastered." Health: Depressed children, depressed adults http://www.sptimes.com/News/81199/news_pf/Health/Depressed_childr.
Depressed children, depressed adults
Depressed children grow up to be depressed and unsuccessful adults. A recent study in the Journal of theAmerican Medical Association said that adults who had onset of depression as adolescents have higher ratesof impaired functioning in work, social settings and family life. They also have higher suicide rates.
"As a kid I had no idea what was wrong with me," says James, a Tampa man in his 50s who didn't want hislast name published. "I would sometimes feel down, real sad. At times I used to pull myself away and justwatch the other kids and wonder why I was standing there, not joining." James watches his 10-year-old son closely for patterns similar to those he experienced. Fortunately, none ofthe symptoms have surfaced.
"When I got depressed I wasn't any trouble," recounts James, who was diagnosed as an adult. "As long as Iwas quiet and no bother, it was unnoticed. I'd cry and didn't know why. It hasn't stopped; the depressed childis still there, just in a bigger body. There is the same sense of doom." As an adolescent, James mixed his sense of doom and sadness with alcohol and began attributing what hethen understood as depression to the effects of alcohol. But when he quit drinking as an adult, the depressionwas still there. He finally got treatment in his late 40s.
Joshi says that while children, like adults, are different, classic symptoms of depression -- sudden loss orincrease in appetite, weight gain or loss, withdrawing from friends and activities, and an air of hopelessnessand helplessness -- can also characterize childhood depression. She says that any five symptoms with anaccompanying mood change can point to clinical depression, which she treats as an episodic and chronicbiological disease.
"Some children may express wishes that they were never born, or wish to get hit by a car, or get sick and die,"Joshi says. The doctor has just returned from Macedonia, where she evaluated the effects of violence andresulting depression in children and adolescents who were living in refugee camps during the Kosovo crisis.
Bipolar illness
Bipolar illness (manic depression), an inherited disease once thought to afflict only adults, is now recognizedas often starting in children before puberty.
Jeremy Bray, 11, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at age 9 during a stay at a children's psychiatric unit. Hewas hospitalized after a period of behavior that his mother, Cheryl Bray, said she could neither understandnor control. At age 6, Jeremy had been had been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
The medication Jeremy was given for ADHD probably caused manic episodes, during which he broke things,set fires and stole. The destructive behavior led to his bipolar diagnosis.
"Placing Jeremy in the hospital at age 9 was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. But it was also the bestchoice I could have made," says Bray, of Texas. "It took the treatment team three weeks to diagnose him andfind the correct medication combination that worked for him." Jeremy has childhood-onset bipolar disorder. He is a rapid cycler with many quickly occurring episodesbetween mania and depression. Seventeen months after his diagnosis, Jeremy was rehospitalized formedication adjustments after he experienced suicidal thoughts. When he hits his teens, Jeremy will probablyneed more medication adjustments, his mother says.
Health: Depressed children, depressed adults http://www.sptimes.com/News/81199/news_pf/Health/Depressed_childr.
"As a parent searching for ways to help my child, I have discovered that if the diagnosis your child receivesdoesn't seem to fit, or if the treatment prescribed isn't working, don't stop searching for a better answer. Agood doctor is willing to listen to you and to weigh any information." Psychiatrists say childhood onset of bipolar illness is different from adult onset illness and may first becomeobvious because of a major depressive episode rather than mania, when the child is excitable and animated.
According to Demitri F. Papolos, associate professor of psychiatry at the Albert Einstein College of Medicinein New York, bipolar disorder in children rarely occurs by itself. It is often accompanied by clusters ofsymptoms that may be diagnosed as attention deficit or obsessive-compulsive disorder. Papolos, author of theforthcoming The Bipolar Child, says that 50 to 80 percent of those children with bipolar also have attentiondeficit. Some treatments for attention deficit, such as Ritalin, can escalate bipolar symptoms, so it isimportant, says Papolos, to address the bipolar disorder before attention deficit.
He adds that, in retrospect, many parents say their children diagnosed with bipolar disorder were differentfrom infancy. They were overresponsive to sensory stimulation, had sleep disturbances, experienced nightterrors and later experienced hyperactivity with high levels of anxiety. These children were also easilyfrustrated and had difficulty controlling their anger.
How to spot symptoms
In its patient publications on childhood depression, the American Medical Association suggests that parentswatch for preoccupation, fears or phobias, frequent crying, an inability to concentrate on tasks, loss ofinterest in play, rocking of the head or body, or saying things such as "No one likes me . . . I'm ugly . . . I'mstupid." If a child talks of suicide, such talk should not be dismissed. Suicide is the leading cause of death amongadolescents. Because depression often runs in families, children's symptoms are often easily recognized byothers in the family who may be in treatment for depression.
It is often those children in families in which no one else is suffering symptoms who risk having theirdepression go undetected. Joshi says, however, that pediatricians are "increasingly savvy" about recognizingdepression in children and may be the first to spot symptoms.
Treating childhood depression
Among the newest depression medications widely prescribed for children are "serotonin selective reuptakeinhibitors," often referred to as SSRIs. This class of drugs includes Prozac, which is approved by the Food andDrug Administration for patients older than 18 but has been increasingly prescribed for children since theearly 1990s.
Negara says it is likely that a psychiatrist will prescribe a Prozac-like drug for children rather than an olderclass of drugs called "tricyclic anti-depressants," drugs that Negara says have some "nasty" side effects.
"Prozac is also used for compulsive-obsessive disorder in children, and it's very effective," Negara says.
There are some controversies about prescribing SSRIs for children, however. Jerry L. Rushton, a pediatricianat the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, says that more than 500,000 prescriptions for SSRIs arewritten for adolescents and children every year, and that the drugs are increasingly being incorporated intoprimary care practice.
Health: Depressed children, depressed adults http://www.sptimes.com/News/81199/news_pf/Health/Depressed_childr.
The drugs have an anecdotally good, even if clinically unproven, track record in treating children. Rushtonsays that in a survey of 600 family doctors, 72 percent said they prescribed SSRIs for patients younger than18 but felt they had not received adequate training in treating childhood depression. Sixteen percent said theywere uncomfortable caring for depressed children.
Rushton says SSRIs should be used for children with caution and careful monitoring, because there areunanswered dose questions. They should not replace other therapies, such as individual counseling and familytherapy.
Papolos says that the first line of pharmacological treatment for bipolar kids is to stabilize their moods, treatsleep disturbances and relieve psychotic symptoms. Mood stabilizing drugs being used for children includelithium, Depakote and Tegretol. For treating psychotic symptoms, Risperdal, Mellaril, Trilafon, Klonopin andAtivan.
"The medication isn't a cure; it is an adjustment," Cheryl Bray says about her son Jeremy's progress. "We stillhave to continue with behavioral modification, and he still cycles, but not to the severe degree he did beforehospitalization. I know that puberty is going to play havoc with his medication levels, but I am prepared forthat, I think." Randolph Fillmore is a freelance writer based in Temple Terrace.
Look for symptoms +
Here are the warning sings of childhood depression --Withdrawal from friends and activities once enjoyed --Indecision, lack of concentration or forgetfulness --Frequent physical complaints, such as headaches or stomachaches For more information
Oct. 7 is the 9th annual National Depression Screening Day, held during Mental Illness Awareness Week.
Designed to call attention to depression on a national level, and to educate public about symptoms andtreatments, free depression screenings are offered on college campuses across the country. To find out wherescreening will be available in your area call the National Locator Line at (800) 573-4433.
Health: Depressed children, depressed adults http://www.sptimes.com/News/81199/news_pf/Health/Depressed_childr.
The National Alliance for Mental Illness brochure "Teenage Depression" is available by calling (800)950-6264.
Gender and depression+
Boys and girls may not be created equally when it comes to depression.
By age 18, young women are much more likely to be depressed than young men the same age. Between theages of 11 and 15, rates of depression soar for girls while the rates for boys stays about the same.
A recent study of San Francisco teens suggests that increased depression in girls comes from their tendency toworry about life and love, and focus on negative emotional issues. Study psychologists Susan Nolen-Hoeksema and Joan S. Girgus say that excessive rumination over problems is probably a gender thing thatcontributes to differences in male and female depression.
Their survey of 615 sixth, eighth and 10th graders found gender in how much boys and girls worried. Girls,they found, worried more about their appearance, friends, personal problems, romantic relationships, familyproblems, being liked, and being safe.
"Girls may feel less in control of their environments than boys from a very early age," Girgus says. "Thissense of uncontrollability contributes to ruination. In essence, girls are frantically trying to understand what'sgoing on around them in their lives and their own emotional distress, and this is manifested as rumination." Copyright, St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.

Source: http://sciencescribe.net/articles/2009/ChildhoodDepression.pdf