My son is depressed what do I do?

Nobody likes to see their saddest children than usual, with depressive attitudes and moods. It is normal for parents to show a great concern for their children when they see that they are at a time in their lives of these characteristics and want to do everything possible to help them. If you wonder what you can do to help your child invite you to continue reading this Psychology-online article: My son is depressed ¿what I do?

1. What is depression
2. My son is depressed why?
3. My son is depressed what do I do?

What is depression

Major depression is a frequent mental disorder that is characterized by a alteration in mood, And it can become chronic or recurring and, consequently, increase the difficulty in the ability to face everyday life, either at work or at school. The characteristics that define the people who suffer from this disorder can be the constant presence of the following aspects:

• Sadness
• Loss of interest and/or pleasure
• Feelings of guilt
• Lack of selfesteem
• Sleep and/or appetite disorders
• Feeling tired
• Lack of concentration
• Depressed mood
• Little energy or fatigue
• Difficulty in decision making
• Feelings of hopelessness and sometimes thoughts about suicide

Nevertheless, Having a depressed mood does not imply suffering a psychological disorder of major depression or other disorder related to depression, but could be a passenger or punctual state due to certain situations that generate this state, such as the death of a relative or repeat an academic year.

¿How to know if my son has depression?

To know how to differentiate a depression disorder from a passenger depressive state, that is, differentiate the depression of sadness, it is important to look at the duration. Specifically, when a minimum of five characteristics mentioned above persist for two weeks and represent a change of operation prior to the person and an obstacle to be able to lead a normal life, it is a major depression. But, if two or more of these characteristics occur and persist for a minimum of one year (two years if they are adults), it is considered a chronic depressive disorder.

My son is depressed why?

If you know that your child has depression, it is normal to ask yourself why. There are different causes for which depression can be caused:

• Biological causes: Among these causes of depression we find genetic factors, hereditary factors and hormonal alterations, among others.
• Psychological causes: Among these causes of depression we can find the personality style, factors related to the parenting, family structure and children's vital situations that have caused a great stressful impact.
• Situational causes: environmental situations, conflicting situations (marriage difficulties, for example), feeling of failure (for example, and the most common among children is academic failure or failure in sports), losses (of some loved one, for example).
• Radical changes in lifestyle of people: substance addiction, misuse of stimulants such as coffee or drugs, lack of interpersonal control, change of school, city change, others.

My son is depressed what do I do?

In consultation, it is common to hear the phrase "my son is depressed ¿what I do?", by worried parents. The situation is not for less and, if your child has depression, knowing how to help you is fundamental. To be able to help your child if he is at a time of his life in which he presents depressive attitudes, it is important that you find time for talk to him, about his feelings and about the things that happen around him and that can cause that mood.

You must not only talk to him, too You must feel heard. It is not recommended to overwhelm it with many questions, speeches or give too many advice to convince it that this depressive state in which it is disappearing, but seems more useful show you that you can count on your support And with your help, let him know that you are there to help you.

Find out about the disorder major depressive, thanks to this information you can probably differentiate whether it is a psychological disorder or if it is a passenger mood. If your child is small, important to know the characteristics of child depression. Even so, it is recommended that you can Inform a psychology specialist On your child's situation so that he can value it and determine what the ideal treatment for the child would be. On the other hand, it can also be interesting. Inform school On the situation it can also be very important, since you can monitor different systems, that is, with the school system, from the family system and, with the therapy received by a psychologist, by the header and aim /or by a psychiatrist.

Taking into account that in the major depressive disorder, in some occasions, suicide ideas are manifested, it is important to know what are the warning signs of that ideation. It is essential to know the prevention of suicidal behavior. When a person has in mind the idea of ​​ending his life, on many occasions, he does not keep it as if it were a secret, but gives small signs that sometimes we do not perceive. Some of these signals that may indicate a certain risk of suicide They are risk behaviors, give personal objects to people who would want them to have a memory of them, changes in personality, suicide threats or to harm, isolation, desire to be alone, among others. It is important to know how to detect these signals and communicate them to a professional.

This article is merely informative, in psychology-online we have no power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

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