Qld: Children get depressed, but not like adults

AAP General News (Australia)
08-03-2000
Qld: Children get depressed, but not like adults

By Rosemary Desmond

BRISBANE, Aug 3 AAP - Children as young as four could be depressed but there was no
evidence to suggest they get the kind of major depressive illness that adults often suffer,
a child psychiatry expert said today.

Professor Barry Nurcombe said doctors frequently confused common childhood depression
with major depressive order, a biological mental disorder in adults which may be treated
with medication.

"The evidence that children get depressed is overwhelming but whether they have a major
depressive disorder ... a very precise type of disorder, I doubt it," said Prof Nurcombe,
Professor of Child Psychiatry at the University of Queensland.

Symptoms of major depressive disorder included general sadness, difficulty in concentrating,
a disturbance to weight levels and appetite, and insomnia.

Placebos or sugar pills given to depressed children had worked well in the past, showing
that the use of anti-depressant medication was usually not justified.

"Most of the so-called depressive disorders seen in childhood and adolescence are actually
crises that mix up anxiety and depression and will actually get better," Prof Nurcombe
said.

Treating a depressed child or adolescent may involve training his or her family to
communicate better.

It may also involve teaching the child ways of combating their pessimism and changing
self-defeating attitudes.

But many parents and carers did not want to know that their children were depressed.

"It's very common and there's no question that if you want to listen to kids who are
sad, they will tell you if you have ears to hear it," Prof Nurcombe said.

"Adults don't want to hear it often because they think that children have only trivial
or transient issues, but that is not so."

Prof Nurcombe will present his findings on Saturday at the Depression 2000 Australasia
Conference on the Gold Coast.

AAP rad/jhm/bdm/bwl

KEYWORD: DEPRESSION KIDS

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