Did you know that one in 20 Americans currently suffers from a depression severe enough to require medical treatment; one person in five will have a depression at some time in his or her life; two percent of all children and five percent of all adolescents suffer from depression? A more staggering statistic reveals that approximately 5,000 young people between the ages of 10 and 19 will commit suicide each year.
Until recently, depression has been recognized as a mental disorder afflicting adults only. Up to the mid-1970s, many health professionals were of the opinion that children were not at risk for this debilitating illness due to the lack of superego development. It is now recognized, in the clinical field, that not only do children suffer from depression, but their depression reflects that of adults with some very minor differences. Also, the notion that children's symptoms of depression are either transitory (brought on by situational crises, i.e., death of family member, divorce of parents etc.) or developmental, therefore, not diagnosable as a separate condition has been dispelled.