For many years, it was not known that there could be cases of depression among children. It was not until 1975 until the existence of this disease was admitted in the child population. Today, the prevalence of this pathology is growing in our environment, so in recent years it has grown to a 8% or 9% of the child population, figure not negligible. It is more frequent in the female sex.
But there is still a big problem today when it comes to detecting these cases, so we find that 70% of children and adolescents suffering from depression or some type of emotional disorder, They are undiagnosed. There are several reasons for this to happen. One would be, as we have said, the denial that children can also become depressed, which leads to obviating this pathology. It is also very difficult to diagnose why the symptoms differ from those of adults. Typical signs of childhood depression are: sadness, irritability, anhedonia (loss of pleasure), easy crying, lack of sense of humor, feeling of not being loved, low self-esteem, social isolation, changes in sleep, changes in appetite and weight, hyperactivity, dysphoria and suicidal ideation. In addition, the diagnosis becomes more difficult because children do not "verbalize" depression.
Between 20 and 50% of children who suffer from it have a family history. If it is the parents who have the disease, the probability increases to 50%. Other factors that also influence are: adverse experiences in childhood, genetic and environmental interaction and psychosocial factors.
An early detection protocol has been carried out to try to diagnose and treat it as soon as possible. According to him, the aspects in which we have to pay maximum attention are: good student who becomes challenging and difficult, school phobia, ideas related to disasters and deaths, demoralization and lack of fun, and complaints with physical symptoms that produce multiple visits to different doctors
This early detection is very important since in a high number of cases, depression that begins before the age of 18 persists in adulthood.
