Depression In Children

A 12-years old boy was held on suspicion of killing his parents before gravely wounded his younger siblings in a violent rampage that shocked residents of Burlington near the Kansas border. Mr Charles Long, 50, and Mrs Marilyn Long, 51, were found dead in their Burlington home after the boy called 911 to report that three people has been shot by him.

This is the shocker: The family had seven children, from ages 5 to the mid-20s and all were well known at the local church.

Their Pastor, Ron Lee said:  The boy now being held in the killing helped in the local church by greeting parishioners before services and working with video equipment:

The question is this, what could make a 12 years old boy kill his parents and his brother? I think the best answer to this question is depression.

Childhold depression is an ailment that interfere with a child or adolescent's ability to function. Studies have showed that four out of every 100 teenagers experience depression every year.

Symptoms of children depression

·         Having feelings of guilt, worthlessness, failure.

·         Loss of interest in activities which once were fun.

·         Conflicts with parents and siblings than usual.

·         Physically or verbally aggressive at everyone.

·         Abandoning favorite hobbies or sports or other routine, daily activities.

·         Misuse of drugs and alcohol.

·         Frequent absences from school.

·         Always complains of being bored .

·         Becomes troublesome in class (both teens and children).

·         Stops going out with friends, shows no interest in group outings.

·         Changes in eating and sleeping habits.

·         Having thought of suicide.

What you can do

If you a parent and your child is experiencing some of above symptoms, you need to seek help from a professional therapist or psychologist. The therapist will daignose and profer solutions to the problem.  

I believe that with proper diagnosis and treatment, the child will be able to overcome depression.

Bipolar Depression- what is it?

This ailment is characterized by mood swings, someone who is very happy one moment may go into unhappy state within a short period of time. Bipolar depression is also known as mania depression.

There are four sub-categories of bipolar depression. They are:

Ø  Cyclothymic Disorder 

Ø  Bipolar NOS

Ø  Bipolar I Disorder

Ø  Bipolar II Disorder

Cyclothymic disorder

This is a milder but much more long-term version of bipolar disorder (usually lasting for two or more years).
Like bipolar II the mania phases are relatively minor, but in addition their depressive phases aren't so severe that they classify as major depression. If left untreated, cyclothymic depression can develop into bipolar II depression.

Bipolar NOS

Bipolar NOS (Not Otherwise Specified) is a catch-all category for people who have some of the symptoms of bipolar, but those symptoms don't allow the person to be neatly categorized in one of the three other categories. For example, the sufferer may have fast cycling between the manic and depressive states, or manic states without depressive states.

Bipolar I Disorder

People suffering from bipolar I disorder have the most extreme mood swings. Their low moods can be classified as major depression, while in their positive moods they can engage in crazy, outrageous and dangerous activities. During this mania state they may even suffer from paranoia or hallucinations.

Bipoar II Disorder

People with bipolar II disorder have much less extreme mania periods. Indeed, many bipolar II sufferers go untreated because people mistake their 'mania' phase for simply getting over their depression. People with bipolar II don't suffer from paranoia or hallucinations.