We take a look at what it actually means and how unity and support in the family can help fight its hold over a kid.
At the recently concluded Asia Pacific Suicide Prevention Convention 2006, we learnt a few startling facts about suicide and children. For example, in a worldwide survey, 7.3% to 38% of the children surveyed demonstrated suicide ideation, which is the thought of wanting to kill them. In Singapore, close to 4.7% of children harbor this morbid thought. While the amount may be alarming, there isn’t any need to panic because it is actually not uncommon to think of suicide.
Ask anyone in the road if he had thought about suicide before and the reply will most probably be a ‘yes’. Thinking about something as serious as killing oneself and truly doing it are two different matters. Out of all youth suicides, roughly 23.5% are associated with mental illness like depression, schizophrenia and others. It is time we understand a little more about this elusive illness called “Childhood Depression”.
The Definition of Childhood Depression
Feelings of major depressive disorder are represented in the forms of mood, physical, mental and behavioral changes in a child. Any combination of the changes that continues for more than two weeks could spell a kid falling into melancholy and warrants a closer look.
Most of the symptoms listed are actually appropriate to both adults and children but there are telling differences. Age, in a manner, does make a difference in the presentation of depressive behavior.