When it comes to depression or anxiety, many children and teens are struggling in secret and want ways to overcome their suffering. But often, they don’t understand what’s wrong, which leads them to think something is wrong with them.
Children can experience the behaviors of anxiety or depression just like adults.
So here are some common signs of anxiety and depression in children.
Signs of Anxiety in children
Children and teens may have trouble describing their inner world in a way that teachers and parents could recognize they are struggling with a mood disorder.
For an anxious child:
- They may talk about not being able to sit still,
- forgetting things,
- getting headaches,
- having scary dreams,
- and being nervous or worried.
Your student may be developing specific fears, such as going out in public, speaking in a group, or driving in a car. Common symptoms are a racing mind, breathlessness, being fidgety, or their heart racing.
Signs of Depression in Children
For a child experiencing depression, they may talk about:
- feeling down, bored,
- not having fun lately,
- not being treated fairly,
- wanting to sleep in and not go to school
- not being hungry
- and no one listens to their problems.
Where this really affects a child is their ability to learn in school.
Depression disorders interfere with a child’s emotions and thinking in a way that leads to distraction, boredom, low energy, low motivation, and indecision.
The nature of depression and mood disorder symptoms interferes with the day to day learning requirements in a school. Most classrooms expect a student to be attentive, respectful, hard-working, consistent, and logical.
But for the child who is depressed, he or she may struggle with meeting the demands of school.
Get The Help Your Child Needs!
Parents may not realize it, but children can suffer from disorders such as depression, anxiety, bipolar, and even post traumatic stress.
Mood disorders in children can impact their motivation, decision making, and self esteem. As you can imagine, if a student is indecisive or lacking energy, their capacity to be a good student is strongly impacted.
If you need extra support to determine whether your child is suffering emotionally, then Pivot Child Psychological Services can provide a psychological evaluation, counseling, and medication management.
This way there is no more guessing what the problem is, and your child has the support they need for their short and long term recovery.