Preschoolers Can Suffer Depression

Children as young as 3 can suffer bouts of chronic clinical depression, a new study has found. It’s normal for preschoolers to have an occasional temper tantrum or moody day, but they usually bounce back, quickly returning to their normal, happy demeanor. When young children don’t resume normal play and activities or appear sad during play or incorporate themes of sadness or death in their play, they may be depressed.

“… people really haven’t paid much attention to depressive disorders in children under the age of 6,” study author, Dr. Joan Luby, a psychiatrist at Washington University in St. Louis, told the Associated Press. “They didn’t think it could happen … because children under 6 were too emotionally immature to experience it.”

The chemical imbalances in the brain associated with depression can occur at any age, but children are generally not brought to a psychiatrist for treatment until the turbulent teen years. Parents often report symptoms going back to early childhood that were not recognized as possible depression at the time. In addition to moodiness and sadness, symptoms of depression in preschoolers can include sleep problems, loss of appetite, frequent temper tantrums, hitting, biting and kicking.

Washington University researchers studied the mental health of 200 preschoolers aged 3 to 6 over a two-year period. Over the course of the study, 75 children were diagnosed with major depressive episodes. Previously conducted research indicates that about 2% of American preschoolers may suffer from depression at some point during their childhoods. Children who had experienced a traumatic event such as the death of a parent, physical or sexual abuse were more likely to become depressed. Children were also more likely to experience depression if their mothers were depressed or suffered from a mood disorder.

Published in the August issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, the study is the first significant research conducted on preschool depression. In previous studies it has been unclear whether preschoolers suffer the chronic depression common in older children and adults. However, in the Washington University study 64% of depressed preschoolers either remained depressed or suffered a recurrence after six months, and 40% still exhibited symptoms of depression at the end of the two-year study.

While the study did not address treatment protocols, cognitive-behavioral therapy is recommended as the first step in the treatment of depression in young children.