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Recognizing Childhood Depression and Anxiety

By Daniel J. DeNoon
Recognizing Childhood Depression

Depression in children is an increasingly recognized problem. Learn the symptoms of childhood depression.

Sometimes kids get sad. They may act depressed. Most kids get over the worst of these symptoms in a couple of days. Some don't.

Parents, if they know to look, can tell the difference, says Marilyn B. Benoit, MD, immediate past president of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and clinical professor at Georgetown University in Washington.

"Parents know in their heart of hearts something has changed in their child and it is not going away," Benoit tells WebMD. "A child who is unhappy about a friend who treated them badly, they normally will get over that in a couple of days. But parents know when something is sticking and not going away. Most kids bounce back from an adverse experience in just a few days. Depressed children are still sad after a couple of weeks."


Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD on July 31, 2006. Originally published April 14, 2004. Medically updated July 2006.

SOURCES: Harold S. Koplewicz, MD, founder and director, New York University Child Study Center; professor, clinical psychiatry and pediatrics, NYU School of Medicine; director,child and adolescent psychiatry, NYU/Belleview Hospital Center, New York. Jeffrey Dolgan, PhD, chief, psychology, The Children's Hospital, Denver. Marilyn B. Benoit, MD, immediate past president, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry; clinical professor, Georgetown University, Washington. Alvin Rosenfeld, MD, child and adolescent psychiatrist, Greenwich, Conn. and New York City. "The Depressed Child," American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry website, accessed April 13, 2004.

© 2004 WebMD, Inc. All rights reserved.