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 On National Depression Screening Day, October 8

National Crisis Group Offers 10 Tips on Spotting Depression in Children

Between 17 and 20 million Americans are affected by depression each year, but even as thousands of sites across the nation are gearing up to screen people and educate them about the condition on National Depression Screening Day (October 8), experts are warning America not to forget a largely overlooked part of our population: children.

 

In the face of the highly publicized pressures kids face today and a doubling of the suicide rate among 10- to 14-year-olds in just 10 years, children’s experts are warning that it is time to take depression in children seriously.

 

“Many people don’t expect that children, especially very young ones – five, six, or seven years old – can be depressed,” says Dr. Herbert Mandell, medical director of the 127-year-old national children’s crisis charity KidsPeace and the KidsPeace Children’s Hospital in Orefield, Pennsylvania. “In addition, people rarely spot depression in children because kids often don’t show all the same, more familiar signs and symptoms we see in adolescents and adults.”

 

To help parents, teachers, and others, KidsPeace has put together ten tips on some of the more commonly seen signs of depression in children: These tips, which are also available at www.kidspeace.org , include:

1. DEPRESSED CHILDREN DON’T ALWAYS “LOOK” DEPRESSED
One of the problems with identifying depression in young children is that they
don’t always show depression in the way older people do. Instead of looking
visibly “sad” and “depressed,” as adolescents and adults often do, young children
sometimes show little sign outwardly, but will instead manifest it behaviorally.
Any new pattern of angry outbursts, disciplinary problems in school, and aggressive or
negative behavior, including looking or acting bored, especially if kids don’t have a past
history of such behaviors, calls for closer attention.

2. SLEEP CHANGES.
In adults, this may be trouble sleeping. In children and younger teens, there may
be an overabundance of sleep, withdrawing and sleeping after school, or refusing
to get out of bed. In older adolescents, you’re more likely to see patterns of
trouble falling asleep and early morning awakening.

3. APPETITE CHANGES.
Significant weight loss or gain (as much as 25 pounds) one way or the other in a few months. Although it can vary, it is typical of older teens to lose weight, while younger children and young teens may gain significantly.

4. IRREGULARITY OF BOWEL MOVEMENTS.
Withholding or accidents in children normally old enough to control their bowel movements.

5. SCHOOL PROBLEMS.
Sudden negative changes in youngsters’ interest or performance, including a drop in grades, disciplinary problems, lack of completing homework, etc.

6. EXTENDED NEGATIVE REACTION TO CRISES.
A reaction more severe and longer than would normally be expected following a death, divorce, a move to a new school, etc. Typically, children can adapt to these stressors within several weeks to, in the case of a death, up to a year.

7. LOSS OF INTEREST IN OLD PLEASURES.
The child loses interest and pleasure in activities that were previously a source of
enjoyment.

8. CHANGE OF FRIENDS AND SOCIAL BEHAVIOR
The child gives up old friends and there may be a shift in the type of friends with whom the child spends time to a group perceived as less desirable by parents.

9. EXPRESSING A SENSE OF HOPELESSNESS.
Listen well to children when they express a sense of hopelessness. Take seriously young children and teens if they verbalize that they have no hope for the future. Expressing feelings of hopelessness may precede a suicide attempt.

10. PHYSICAL COMPLAINTS.
Children may complain of stomachaches or headaches. These complaints may be accompanied by a withdrawal from typical activities, social life, and a refusal to go to school. These complaints are cause for concern and should be explored.

Older children and adolescents tend to be more similar to adults when depressed, with symptoms that are more familiar to the general public: Withdrawal, fatigue, irritability, loss of concentration,, greater interest in morbid themes, and loss of interest in good hygiene, along with signs listed above.

 

“It is not unusual for adolescents to go through periods of being sad or down,” says KidsPeace President & CEO William Isemann. “In fact, it is pretty normal. However, it is important to realize that depression is serious, and some of these symptoms you may think are depression may be signs of other issues, including medical problems.”
How to Take Action
When symptoms persist for more than a couple of weeks, or if there is more than one, it is time to take action. Check the signs of childhood depression at www.kidspeace.org , talk to your family doctor and get help. Be sure to touch base with your child’s school to share information, as well. Best of all, to make sure you are protecting your children, talk to your kids on an ongoing basis so that you know what is normal for your kids and what is not. If you suspect a problem, you can find a National Depression Screening Day center near you by going to the website www.mentalhealthscreening.org .

 

A resource for kids facing depression and other issues: TeenCentral.Net
One free resource to help children themselves is an innovative website, TeenCentral.Net, created by KidsPeace with the help and support of the nation’s leading child experts at Harvard and Brown. TeenCentral.Net gives kids clinically screened help and advice, assisting kids to identify and work through problems before they become overwhelming.

National Depression Screening Day
National Depression Screening Day is held each year and is designed to call attention to the illnesses of depression on a national level. The week helps educate the public about symptoms and effective treatment, offers individuals the opportunity to be screened for the disorders, and can help connect those in need of treatment to the mental health care system. For a site near you, go to www.mentalhealthscreening.org .

About KidsPeace
KidsPeace is a 127-year-old national charity dedicated to giving help, hope and healing to America’s children facing crisis. Founded in Bethlehem, Pa., this organization directly helps thousands of children a day at more than 50 centers around the country to overcome the crises of growing up. KidsPeace helps millions more each year through educational outreach and awareness programs designed to help America’s kids and parents anticipate, intervene in and master crises that can affect any child – from disasters and personal traumas to family issues and neglect to life-threatening depression, eating disorders, and the many stresses of modern life. KidsPeace recently won a Gold Seal of Approval from the Joint Commission, was named “The Outstanding Organization” of its kind in the country by the American Association of Psychiatric Services for Children, and was called “a prototype of what we need for all children everywhere” by the late, nationally renowned child and family expert, Dr. Lee Salk.

 

KidsPeace was born in the Lehigh Valley more than 127 years ago as the Children’s Home of South Bethlehem as a charity that served as home to children whose parents had succumbed to a Smallpox epidemic. In 1943 the name became Wiley House. Over the years, the non-profit organization introduced new services such as foster care, day treatment, specialized schools and expanded to other states. With residential centers in Maine, Minnesota and Georgia and foster care offices across the country, KidsPeace has remained firmly rooted in the Lehigh Valley. In 1992, leadership decided to change the name to KidsPeace, a brand name that could be easily recognized around the country. We remain a private charitable organization that was never purchased by a large, impersonal corporation.  We were as important a part of the community in 1882 as we are today.

 

Good Neighbors

The sense of community is very strong within KidsPeace. Our associates live in the Lehigh Valley, and the majority of the children we treat in PA our from local areas. We volunteer to participate in walks for such causes as autism, ALS, autism and suicide awareness, raising money for local charities through our efforts. Our counselors instill a sense of giving back to the community in all of our programs, taking them to help out with local food banks, book sales, church programs, fundraisers for individuals in need, cleaning up public areas and carrying parcels or discarded computers or other large pieces during town cleanup days. The children make gifts and cards for military members stationed abroad, visit with the elderly to brighten their days and entertain community members with choirs, dance teams and theatrical performances.

 

The KidsPeace leadership participates in the community to assist legislators draft bills and discuss issues that are important to all children in Pennsylvania. Our associates speak at meetings and events of importance to educators, parents and children, and our emergency response team volunteers to counsel school children who have suffered a trauma such as an accident that has killed a fellow student or an act of violence that raises fear in children in teens.

 

Our annual soccer tournament brings more than 4,000 players, families and spectators to the Lehigh Valley for a weekend in August, offering great competitive sport. The event also contributes to the economy of the area while raising funds for the KidsPeace children. Many of our events are open to the public including our KidsPeace Auxiliary Fashion Show, golf tournament, sporting clays day, autumn ball and trainings. We publish a free award-winning publication called Healing Magazine, which is released to readers twice year. Our free website, www.TeenCentral.Net is a wonderful anonymous source of advice from Master’s level counselors to teens who have nowhere to turn and appreciate a safe place to “log on and work it out.” TeenCentral.Net also provides visitors with news, celebrity stories, obesity advice and recommended books.

 

What we Do

KidsPeace is headquartered in Schnecksville, PA, and our largest campus is located across Route 309 on 255 acres of peaceful, wooded land that provides the children in our care with space to play, explore and enjoy a beautiful natural setting. This beautiful spot has become a vital location in the Lehigh Valley where neighbors and friends visit to use the Olympic sized swimming pool, compete in our annual soccer tournaments and attend fundraisers and celebrations of our efforts to provide top services to our children.

 

The children we serve at KidsPeace in the Lehigh Valley on both our Orchard Hills Campus and Broadway Campus in Bethlehem are your neighbors, your children’s classmates, members of your church and friends who have hit a rough patch and need some time in one of our many programs to help them get back on track and deal with their issues with the assistance of highly trained professionals. Our Orchard Hills Campus is unique in the fact that we operate a 72 bed children’s psychiatric hospital on the grounds that can accommodate the most acute mental health, behavior or emotional issues and then place the child in a residential program to finish the healing process. We also offer an array of community-based services around the Lehigh Valley that work with children and their families to avoid residential services or as step down from residential.

 

In Berks County, PA, KidsPeace also has a campus that provides regular and special education as sell as three levels of partial hospitalization that provide treatment as well as classroom work that allows the children to keep up with their local school work. The Berks Campus boasts an organic garden and a vermicomposting project that recycles paper and food waste and composts it into rich soil for the vegetable and flower gardens, which prove very therapeutic for the children who work the beds.

 

KidsPeace has some 50 foster care and community programs (FCCP) around the country. Our associates carefully match children and foster families to ensure a good fit and reduce the number of placements in additional foster homes for the children whose original placements do not work out. Our Pennsylvania offices also work with the State adoption agency SWAN, as well as other agencies that arrange for international adoptions. Visit http://www.kidspeace.org/Foster.aspx for more information on our foster care and adoption services.

 

Education is a large part of our work in the Lehigh Valley, and we have regular and special education classrooms on the Orchard Hills and Bethlehem campuses for residential students and children who attend partial hospitalization programs or who require specialized classrooms with low student to teacher ratios.

 

KidsPeace is also a large employer in the Lehigh Valley, and our associates live and shop and enjoy themselves here. The organization supports the local economy by purchasing local goods and utilizing local businesses to supply our campuses. We purchase many of our consumables right here in the Lehigh Valley as well.

 

The next time you pass a sign for KidsPeace or see one of vans transporting children around the Lehigh Valley, think of us as a good neighbor and understand that our commitment and ties to the children and families of the Lehigh Valley are strong and deeply rooted.