In fact, depression can strike children just as severely as it does adults, and tough times are not necessarily a normal part of growing up. Mood disorders, more than anything else, put adolescents at risk for suicide, the third-leading cause of death for people between 15 and 24. Strong evidence also suggests that depressed children are likely to become depressed adults, with a relapse rate as high as 70 percent. And depression tends to run in families. Yet, discovering depression's symptoms in young people is enormously difficult.
Adults can take themselves to a therapist if they're feeling low.
But children rarely recognize their own mental illnesses. Some depressed children seem quiet or antisocial and get lost in the shadows of their boisterous peers. In other cases, depression causes behavioral problems, which are more likely to earn punishment than sympathy. Depression also often appears alongside other problems, such as anxiety disorders, behavior disorders, learning disabilities and substance abuse. Even doctors have trouble recognizing the symptoms of childhood depression, mostly because they've never learned how to do it, Jensen said.