Child Depression

You love your kid more than anything in the world.

So when you see them struggle with child depression, it can be so hard…disheartening, scary, and sad, not only for them but for you.

You wonder, Is my child depressed? It can be confusing to know, because depression in children doesn’t look the same as depression in adults. You’re right to wonder, and you’re right to be concerned, as depression in children can be serious.

Your child may recently have experienced something that can cause childhood depression, such as divorce in the family, loss of a friend group, a move, a death, or other life change. Or maybe you just don’t know why they seem sad, irritable, or angry. Because kids often don’t have the words to describe what’s going on, we as parents may not know what is going on either. And that’s hard on any parent.

Child depression may include these symptoms:

• Sadness
• Low energy…moping around or not wanting to get out of bed
• Anger, irritability, outbursts
• Not interested in things they used to love
• Not wanting to be with friends
• Crying
• Oversleeping, or insomnia
• Changes in appetite or weight
• Trouble concentrating or making decisions
• Sensitivity to rejection
• Low self esteem, critical of self
• Excessive guilt
• Suicidal statements

If your child has lost their spark or just seems different, that can be very scary, and a skilled therapist can keep you from having to guess about what might be going on. Our job in counseling is to help your child become aware of—and make sense of—what they are feeling…so they can feel better and have the skills they need to cope better with stress, issues with friends, school challenges, and life changes.

At Life Counseling Institute, we believe that it’s our job to make counseling fun, using methods that are appropriate for the age of the child. For little ones, we use play therapy techniques, games, reading, and other fun activities. For older kids, ages 8-17, we may use talk therapy or games that take into account your child’s hobbies and interests.

Therapy and counseling for child depression will help your child:

• Be able to identify what they are feeling, so they can talk about it rather than act it out
• Know how to identify and cope with triggers that cause them to feel depressed or anxious
• Develop positive tools for coping with stressors
• Regain interest in the things they used to love, like friends, school, hobbies, and activities

Your child will look forward to seeing their therapist, who will be another trusted adult in their life that they like and look up to, alleviating you of the sense that you are all alone in figuring out what is going on. We’ll work collaboratively with you as the parent, to help your child regain their spark, reignite their sense of fun…and be the happy kid they used to be.