Age and clinical depression ?
Q.Does anyone think it's kind of crappy to tell a 10 year old kid he's clinically depressed? Or is that a good thing? If someone was told they were clinically depressed 20 years ago, what are the chances they would just accept that, see the world as a horror place, or keep reading every now and then on depression and find some different answers?
A.If I had been told 20 years ago that I was clinically depressed, my whole life would have been different. I might have actually LIKED myself through junior high and high school. It might not have taken me a year after high school to find a job, and it may not have been a measly little 16 hour a week part time job at a library. I might have actually gone to college before I was 25. I could go on and on. I don't think it's crappy to tell a 10 year old they're clinically depressed, because then they can get treatment and actually have a life when they're 30. Well, as the mother of a ten year old, I'll answer this. If my daughter was having problems with depression and diagnosed with clinical depression, I would tell her. Ten year olds aren't clueless. They know when something doesn't feel right. Just recently my daughter was having some problems and because of my diagnosis, I took her to our family psychologist I have known for 13 years who has helped us with my handicapped son. He found that she was "going through early puberty", or not so early but earlier than I went through it and felt it would pass. BUT, may I extend that I sat down and discussed depression and it's symptoms with her to find out how she was feeling and reassured her I could help her get help. Thank Goodness that it didn't last and they didn't find it to be clinical or a problem, I hope it stays that way...but my point is, i told her it was possible. I got her to open up. She felt something different, she knew or felt something was wrong. I think it helped her to open up and talk and also to know there is help and not to feel like an outcast. Honesty. How can you hide this from a person, they feel it, they live it, they have the right to know...even as a child. I wish I was diagnosed earlier than I was. I was in my late 20's when I was finally (And I do mean finally) diagnosed with depression. It would have helped me and saved me a lot of heartache. I would have been better equipped to fight it had I have known. i don't remember much about being 10 years old. but during high school, even the early years of high school, i *knew* i suffered depression. i had a hunch of something and so i studied it and nearly everything i read i could relate to. but i was nevr diagnosed, never told anybody, so i just remained in denial i guess. now i have been to a doctor because the older i got the more hard it was to cope with. especially with the added influence of drugs, especially pot. but i am still in denial. maybe if i had of been diagnosed back then things would be better now. i would have more easily taken a pill every day back then so now everything could be ok. who knows. I have to agree with Mary Beth, when I was finally diagnosed, I cried for days with relief, that there was *something* wrong with me, that l wasn't just going crazy. My 16 year old nephew has been diagnosed with clinical depression, and he knows all about it. I wish my parents had done for me what they did for him.
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