Whatever troubles lie ahead, they are still far, far away. Sadness is no more than a fleeting blip.
Depression is unthinkable.
It is a myth often perpetrated by parents who do not want to believe their children could be touched by the pain they themselves might feel, and one sometimes reinforced by doctors and community health professionals. It is a belief that can have serious repercussions for children. As child psychiatrists Dr Neil Coventry and Dr Howard Cooper will explain to a Melbourne conference on depressive disorders this week, childhood depression is very real, it is difficult to detect, and it often goes undiagnosed. More concerning, there is a suspicion it is on the rise. According to one study, each successive generation since 1940 is increasingly at risk of suffering a depressive disorder.