Silent depressions in children and adolescents

Abstract

The rise of silent depression in childhood and adolescence is a problem of great concern to mental health professionals because of the hidden suffering involved. The difficulty of working in depth with children and adolescents means that many depressions of this nature are often overlooked. Disruptive and psychotic behaviours, as well as hyperactivity, concentration difficulties, etc., are being the defensive dike to severe deep depressions. It is essential to contextualise the traumatic experiences of abandonment and/or neglect that they may have gone through and to differentiate between what is their own and what they have received from family ties, taking into account the age range of the child and adolescent. Depressions that are reactive to undesirable situations do not necessarily have to be pathological.

I believe that the best way to avoid pathological disorders at this age is prevention.

Keywords
silent depression in childhood and adolescence, manifestations and defensive behaviours, feelings, psychodiagnosis, prevention, health

Text
[Automatic translation from Spanish]:

A lot of people affect the lives of a child and a teenager, and all of them have their own level of relationship, their own criteria, and their own opinion about their lives; some with better connection, sensitivity and intuition, and others, farther away from the internal reality of those children they deal with. In an examination room they are all present physically or mentally because they are all in live of children and adolescents. And some, interfering with it.

When working on these developmental stripes, it is necessary to consider the age, the parents, the family group, the educators, health teams and teachers, on which they depend.

To understand them, it is not good to dissociate them from their family group. To treat them properly, it is essential to differentiate them from the family, but understanding at the same time their internal situation in relation to it. The more experience I have in working with these ages, which, if they have also gone through traumatic situations and situations of helplessness and / or abandonment, the more I reaffirm the complexity involved in understanding questions about mental health in childhood and adolescence.[…]

Carmen Amorós Azpilicueta
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