Problems that might otherwise be corrected with treatment may escalate out of control. Depression is a common problem. For a condition whose existence was not even recognized until quite recently, the statistics now emerging about childhood depression are somewhat alarming. Studies suggest that, during a year's time, eight to nine percent of children between the ages of ten and thirteen suffer from an episode of depression. As startling as these figures are, it is likely that they reflect only the tip of the iceberg, since the incidence of depression in young people appears to be on the rise in our society.
Depression has many causes.
After years of neglect, childhood depression has become the subject of considerable research efforts. Behavioral scientists who have explored the causes of depressive illness now believe that depression results from problems with neurotransmitters,the chemical messengers within the brain which enable brain cells to communicate with each other. The roots of this malfunction appear to lie in a complex combination of genetic vulnerability and stressful life events. We know, for example, that children of depressed parents are three times more likely than other children to suffer from depression at some point in their development. This indicates that life experiences also contribute to the development of a mood disorder.