At the lecture hall, students will be able to analyze personal questions and situations. Not only adults are invited to participate, but also teenagers themselves - the expert's speech will be useful for those who want to learn how to talk with parents and teachers about personal difficulties without embarrassment and feelings of guilt and fear.

The event will take place at 15/16 Nikitsky Boulevard, 7 minutes from Arbatskaya metro station. All participants will receive a personalized certificate from the "Parent University".

The open lecture hall is organized by the "Parent University: PRO-parents" project of the "Prosveshchenie" group of companies, the HEROI project and the Yana Poplavskaya Foundation.

Childhood depression. How to recognize and help a child in time?

Children, youth and adolescents are the most vulnerable group prone to mental disorders and depression due to immaturity and mental instability. That is why it is important for parents to monitor the health of their child, not to let growing up take its course.

In this article, we will talk about why depression in childhood is dangerous but harder to detect. Let's describe the symptoms of depression for six ages: infants, young children and preschoolers, younger schoolchildren, adolescents, high school students. How to avoid the development of depression at an early age?

Let's talk about somatic problems (sleep, appetite, developmental delay), emotional reactions (nervousness, phobias and fears, tearfulness, negativism), behavioral patterns (talking about death, poor academic performance, conflict, rebellious behavior, obsessive states, self-harm), etc.

At the end, parents will receive advice on dealing with depression in their child. Why do you need to talk to children, you can’t shout, humiliate and punish, ignore jokes about death? About the style of upbringing, the atmosphere at home and at school, emotional overload, conflicting demands, personal boundaries.

Be on the lookout for danger signs.

Children's depression is rarely talked about, well, what are the problems with the emotional and volitional sphere, if the child himself does not understand his feelings, cannot control his behavior, and has an immature psyche? However, children are the most vulnerable category, the disease is dangerous because at an early age it occurs without classic symptoms.

The cause of depression in a child may be CNS damage as a result of past illnesses or severe heredity, prolonged separation from the mother, tense family situations, constant quarrels and violence, excess control, academic load with which he cannot cope. How to recognize depression in time to prevent its development in the initial stages?

Symptoms of childhood depression

Depression in children under one year old

During this period, you need to be attentive to psychosomatic symptoms - sleep problems, refusal to breastfeed, gastrointestinal disorders. The baby cannot speak, you need to look at his behavior as a whole. Inhibited responses, inability to laugh and be happy, distant facial expressions, lack of contact, lethargy are possible signs of depression that are often confused with autism.

Depression in children aged 1 to 3 years.

At an early age, depression in a child is manifested by a large number of fears (loneliness, darkness), regression in development. Such children may suck their thumb and bite their nails, rock in place, avoid eye contact, and injure themselves. Other symptoms are increased irritability, anxiety and tearfulness, the habit of referring to parents in the third person, and the long-term development of the most primitive words and actions.

Depression in preschool children (3-6 years)

Depression in preschool children is expressed in the desire for loneliness, sluggish movements, unwillingness to play, lack of initiative in communication. Such children often talk about death, ask their parents why they were born, frown, act up, show suicidal tendencies. To this are added phobias, complicated adaptation to kindergarten, sleep problems (nightmares, insomnia), digestive difficulties, panic attacks.

Depression in children aged 7-10 years

Here, all of the above is superimposed by reluctance to go to school, poor academic performance, problems in relationships with peers, indifference to what is happening. The younger student negatively assesses himself, his appearance, believes that his parents will be better off without him, is sensitive to other people's assessments, and complains of boredom. Depression can also manifest itself in irrational guilt, fear of not living up to parental expectations, self-blame, and a refusal to defend oneself from attacks and criticism.

Depression in younger adolescents (11-15 years old)

Depression in adolescents manifests itself in feelings of loneliness, rejection, increased vulnerability, and a desire to die. Children with depression at this age constantly hover in fantasies, read books on esotericism, about other worlds, draw frightening pictures. They look depressed, do not care about hygiene and appearance, do not want to fill their free time with socializing and some hobbies. They have no friends, there may be conflicts with classmates and parents. They sleep a lot and for a long time, look motionlessly at one point, are inattentive to words, absent-minded, refuse to eat.

Depression in older adolescents (16-18 years old)

In the older grades, the manifestation of depression in children has two forms - oppositional behavior (rebellion, conflicts, hooligan behavior, running away from home, various kinds of addictions, sexual promiscuity) and an ascetic lifestyle (a pessimistic view of the future, rejection of studies and former interests, disbelief in oneself, a sense of the meaninglessness of what is happening, a feeling of inferiority). At the same time, a young man can rush from one extreme to another: on the rise of strength, he will rebel and behave aggressively, on the decline, he will lock himself in the room and refuse to contact.

Common features for all children - the prevalence of bad mood (negativism), motor retardation, poor school performance. Depressed children have reduced appetite, often complain of weakness, headaches, and sleep disturbances. They can not stand loud noises, be touchy, irritable, aggressive, join antisocial groups, use alcohol and drugs. They show dissatisfaction with the world and themselves, do not trust relatives, prefer loneliness, run away from home.

What should parents do if their child is diagnosed with depression?

Do not rush to make your own diagnosis, this is the task of an experienced psychiatrist. If serious changes have occurred in the child’s life (parents’ divorce, death of loved ones, moving, violence, rejection by the team), he began to behave strangely, talk about death - take him to a psychologist who will analyze the behavior and prescribe therapy, prescribe a course of antidepressants.

What can be done?

• Talk to your child, ask him about his feelings, desires, plans for the future. When he shares problems, actively listen, respond, help find a solution, and do not dismiss, they say, too small. You must participate in the life of a child, be a senior experienced comrade.

• Help improve their self-esteem by praising their child more often, noticing their strengths, giving them love and care. Recognize that he is a separate person with his own desires, do not demand to justify your expectations, do not humiliate him, do not crush him with your assessments and discontent. Read literature on the topic of age crises and the solution of parent-child conflicts.

• When scolding a child, do not devalue his personality, speak about the facts, the inadmissibility of a particular act. Separate the image of the child and his behavior.

• Don't contradict your words, promise - do it, demand - comply. If you yourself smoke, swear, conflict with the other half, it is foolish to expect a different behavior from the child.

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