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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2018/10/26 04:18:13
Subject: Depression in kids
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Shas'ui with Bonding Knife
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Any fellow Dakka parents who have a child who is suffering from depression?
Any good resources that you have found to help you work with your child to get them through it?
Thanks!
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I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends.
Three!! Three successful trades! Ah ah ah!
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2018/10/26 04:45:46
Subject: Depression in kids
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Humming Great Unclean One of Nurgle
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CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) will help teach techniques to manage things. Think of managing a mental illness as a skill that one must practice to get better at. CBT is like having a personal trainer.
Medication is also an option but for a kid I would recommend holding off if you can. Regardless have that resource ready when they hit teenage years because it will probably get worse, potentially a lot worse.
Also keep in mind there is a fine line between managing depression and over-protecting from experiencing hardship.
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I try to view Warhammer as more of a toolbox with examples than fully complete games. |
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2018/10/26 05:21:37
Subject: Depression in kids
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Pragmatic Primus Commanding Cult Forces
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As a kid (about 11 to 15), I struggled a lot with pretty severe depression. Therapy, especially group therapy eventually helped me get over it. I also went through a whole array of medication. Anti-depressant medication is not normally recommended for kids or teens because it can have pretty severe side-effects on them. They only prescribe it for the worst cases where just therapy is not enough. If you think your child suffers from a real depression (as opposed to just feeling down for a bit), I would recommend seeking professional assistance, and not take advice from random people on internet fora. Depression can be very serious, and it is often hard to figure out just how much someone with depression is suffering, since they usually tend to downplay it a lot or pretend to be happy just to make other people feel better. My parents for example never knew just how bad it was until I almost succeeded at trying to kill myself. Not every depression gets that bad, of course, but for someone who is not a psychiatrist it can be hard to recognise the signals. I don't know how stuff works in the US, but I would definitely seek contact with the relevant institutions to get advise and diagnose the problem.
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This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/10/26 05:22:34
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2018/10/26 09:51:19
Subject: Depression in kids
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Willing Inquisitorial Excruciator
Ephrata, PA
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I agree with everyone else. Also, check out several different psychiatrists if you or (especially) your kid don't get a good vibe from the first one. Some of them will just want to push meds off on your kid and not actually give them therapy, or teach coping and overcoming skills. Those are the ones you want to avoid. Medication dos have a time and a place, but it is never the only answer, not should it be the first for a child.
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2018/10/26 18:28:08
Subject: Depression in kids
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Contagious Dreadnought of Nurgle
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I would first of all recommend seeing a professional as others have said, and as they say, be wary. Medication can be a good thing, or not, and as I understand in the US clinical effectiveness is not always the priority.
Second I would Recomended looking in to mindfulness. I would recommend it for anyone, mental ill health or not, and is massively powerful. Even better if you can find a practitioner to guide you and do it as a family, but if not just finding a book with a CD of guided meditation is good. There are lots out there. John Kabat-Zinn is the person who developed most of it.
http://oxfordmindfulness.org/news/interview-jon-kabat-zinn/
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insaniak wrote:Sometimes, Exterminatus is the only option.
And sometimes, it's just a case of too much scotch combined with too many buttons... |
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2018/10/26 22:41:24
Subject: Depression in kids
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Pustulating Plague Priest
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(This is from limited understanding, so please take this with a grain of salt).
As everyone else said, finding a professional would be ideal.
From my understanding (again, might not quite be correct), medication might be best used in the short term. Therapy tackles the problem itself, while medication only reduces the symptoms for a period of time. I’d recommend using it only if things get very serious. Psychologists usually do therapy, while psychiatrists are the ones that perscribe medication.
Another thing I would check would be the support network. Friends, family, and such. This isn’t a miracle cure, but having a group of people that support this person can be a help. Even if it’s just to keep the person company, that can make it less likely that this person will isolate themselves.
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This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/10/26 23:57:18
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2018/10/26 23:33:58
Subject: Depression in kids
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Decrepit Dakkanaut
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One thing I want to emphasise is how personal mental illnesses like depression can be, and how uniquely it can affect people. What works for some, or even the vast majority, may not work for others, and attempting to make it stick regardless will simply worsen things. Something I see even survivors of depression do is suggest what 'works' in general or worked for them, and then get tetchy when the recipient either tried it before and it didn't work, or takes the time to try and it with the same result, and it's important to try and not let any lost patience show if you hit the same wall. Speaking from (ongoing) experience, there's little can drive someone suffering from depression to push you away quicker than you treating them as if they're, so to speak, 'doing it wrong'. Sure, some treatment options, especially after any initial drive to get cured has been sapped away, can start getting harder to accept or adapt to, and personal frame of mind at the time can also make it harder through no fault of the person suffering, but there may well be a point where they can state with 100% certainty "this isn't working for me", and the worst thing to hear back is "well try harder". For a child, this is probably even more important, as older kids and teenagers are even less inclined to believe that adults understand them than normal. Another general 'tip' I want to suggest regards something that annoys me and a few other friends struggling with various mental health problems, and that's the word "just". I personally find that adding "just" to a lot of things ("just try ____", "just keep going", "just do this/that/the other") can imply that you're trivialising things. It's probably not your intention, and you may not even have meant 'just' in the sense of 'simply' and more the sense of 'only' ("just eat one thing" being interpreted as "simply eat one thing" instead of "eat only one thing", for example), but it can compound that feeling in the recipient that they're not being understood, and can put a not insignificant amount of added pressure on them. It can also end in mixed signals, where they might be told that getting out of bed and brushing their teeth is a victory only be told to "just get out of bed" the next day (again, probably only meaning "if you can only get out of bed, that's great" as opposed to the "simply get out of bed, it's easy" they may have interpreted it as). Like I said, though, that's a personal feeling, and, to touch on my first point again, while I know people who have the same issue, it may very well not apply to your situation. Caring for someone with depression, or any mental health issue, often requires as much of an open mind as overcoming it, as well as a hell of a lot of patience. I suppose the final thing to suggest is finding someone to help support you, too. I've got my own mental health issues, but I also have to help another family member cope with their own far greater ones, and it is hard, even with what (admittedly paltry and quite uncaring) professional medical support they get in addition. In a way, my own problems have helped me cope with it, because I understand more and can avoid pitfalls others can't see or ignore, but it's difficult even with that insight, and there are times where the entire thing gets too much. It's very important to not lose yourself while try to save someone else, and every bit of advice about seeking professional help and support for your child applies to you, too. It's not a process you want to go through alone any more than you would want your child to.
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This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/10/26 23:34:22
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2018/10/27 00:13:01
Subject: Depression in kidsto a
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Ragin' Ork Dreadnought
Monarchy of TBD
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Definitely seek professional help, and a professional diagnosis if you haven't already. Sometimes kids' symptoms do have distinct causes that they can't verbalize, and best case scenario something can be found that treats it well. My own son had tremendous anger issues when he was 4, to the point that he could tip over furniture or sustain a tantrum for an hour. We reluctantly went to the doctor to try to get him diagnosed, and she referred us to get a sleep assessment done, of all things. Turns out the boy's a sleepwalker, and had not been cycling down to REM state. The solution was just melatonin every night, and the rage was reduced to something controllable.
Obviously that's the best case scenario, and it wasn't depression. But I thought it would help illustrate the idea that a good doctor can look for causes even a concerned layperson wouldn't consider. Best of luck to you!
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This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/10/27 00:17:22
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2018/10/27 08:40:00
Subject: Re:Depression in kids
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Douglas Bader
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Something important to consider is the reason for depression: is it situational or is it purely a brain chemistry thing? If it's "just" brain chemistry then that might be more straightforward and treatable with medication, but if there's an underlying issue you probably won't get far by treating the symptoms instead of the problem. For example, if they are LGBT and hiding in the closet or struggling with academic problems and feeling like a failure that needs to be considered and solved. And if it is there's a good chance the depression it was causing disappears, or at least becomes a lot easier to treat.
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2018/10/27 10:07:52
Subject: Re:Depression in kids
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Grizzled Space Wolves Great Wolf
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Definitely see a professional, but I’d also say be wary of suggestions a professional might make. Professionals have their own biases ingrained which may sway their opinion of a person’s situation. And I’d be very wary of any drugs they might prescribe, sometimes they might be necessary but my experience of people near me is drugs either weren’t the right thing, or were the right thing but in too large of a dose for too long.
Peregrine wrote:Something important to consider is the reason for depression: is it situational or is it purely a brain chemistry thing? If it's "just" brain chemistry then that might be more straightforward and treatable with medication, but if there's an underlying issue you probably won't get far by treating the symptoms instead of the problem. For example, if they are LGBT and hiding in the closet or struggling with academic problems and feeling like a failure that needs to be considered and solved. And if it is there's a good chance the depression it was causing disappears, or at least becomes a lot easier to treat.
A mate of mine in the research field in Australia has been critical of mainstream psychology as being too hesitant to comment on actual life situations that would exacerbate depression. I don’t know how true it is as I don’t have first hand experience or if it applies to the world over, but he felt professionals were overly discouraged from drawing links between toxic life situations and depression, and were overly encouraged to hunt for medical reasons and diagnoses even when the life circumstances might b so grim as to make a perfectly normal person depressed.
Personally I went to a professional (psych at my university’s medical centre) a few times for depression and didn’t really get much out of it other than “mindfulness might help”, though through my sessions I’d said I’d be hesitant to take any sort of drugs due to other health problems that seem to make me get side effects more often than not, maybe if I hadn’t said that she’d have tried to prescribe something, I dunno.
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This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/10/27 10:22:26
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2018/10/27 18:37:00
Subject: Depression in kids
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Decrepit Dakkanaut
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I'll echo said above about seeking professional help as soon as possible,
I'll also say that if medication is suggested be very aware that children are more likely to suffer side effect than adults,
and if the depression is very severe people can go from a stage where they are too depressed to do anything at all to a stage where they can contemplate and act on suicidal thoughts before things improve further and they realise life is worth living (hopefully things aren't that bad for your kid but if they are keep alert to it for the first few months on medication)
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2018/10/29 21:10:26
Subject: Depression in kids
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Shas'ui with Bonding Knife
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Thanks all.
My intent was not to bypass professional help, but more to prepare myself for this process through hearing others' experiences with this.
There isn't anything that someone else out there hasn't been through, and while everyone's journey is different, learning about things which helped them through it can make some else's journey a little easier.
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I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends.
Three!! Three successful trades! Ah ah ah!
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2018/10/31 04:32:56
Subject: Re:Depression in kids
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Decrepit Dakkanaut
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From my understanding (again, might not quite be correct), medication might be best used in the short term. Therapy tackles the problem itself, while medication only reduces the symptoms for a period of time. I’d recommend using it only if things get very serious. Psychologists usually do therapy, while psychiatrists are the ones that perscribe medication.
Another thing I would check would be the support network. Friends, family, and such. This isn’t a miracle cure, but having a group of people that support this person can be a help. Even if it’s just to keep the person company, that can make it less likely that this person will isolate themselves.
This. The main thing is a Support Group. Depression episodes is for life.
Also be aware of suicide signs. I. AM. SERIOUS. ON. THIS. ONE.
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2018/11/03 08:38:22
Subject: Re:Depression in kids
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Yu Jing Martial Arts Ninja
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As someone who has suffered over the years with depression and anxiety Im happyto see this kind of topic on here. It’s only the last few years that I’ve been able to manage, cope, accept all these feelings I’ve had to deal with over the years.
Here in the U.K. there’s been a big push on the mental health front although there’s still a stigma attached to depression there is a fair bit of support, for me I find having people I can talk to helps more than medication, for one medication makes me feel sick as a dog.
Although it’s manageable now it hasn’t always been that way to give a sense of time scale I’m now 37 but first started to struggle around the age of 11-12 and remember going to a parent to ask for help as something started to feel very wrong only to be told not to be so stupid as kids don’t get depressed. Now I have a wife who’s knows the signs and helps me stop falling in to that black hole or at worse not very far. Oh and one last point I never went to that parent for help again, that’s something I damn sure wouldn’t do to my kids.
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2018/11/03 15:29:14
Subject: Depression in kids
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[SWAP SHOP MOD]
Killer Klaivex
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TheMeanDM wrote:Any fellow Dakka parents who have a child who is suffering from depression?
Any good resources that you have found to help you work with your child to get them through it?
Thanks!
A good thing to establish is whether they have depression, or if they're just depressed. The two sound similar, but have key differences. One is a lifetime condition that strikes for no reason due to chemical deficiencies in the brain, the other is when you feel bad because something very bad or a lot of bad things have happened recently. They require treatment in different ways. If it's a lifetime condition thing; anti-depressants, CBT, and various other things can be utilised to help manage the condition. If it's a temporary passing state, time and remedies aimed at countering the item(s) causing the depressed state of mind are more appropriate.
It is worth keeping in mind that teenagers, having various hormones surging around their body and much less life experience/resilience, can often feel the effects of a depressed state of mind more severely or be prone to exaggeration. Whilst you don't want to withhold treatment from someone who needs it, it is worth getting an expert to diagnose whether they are actual depressives before just bunging them on anti-depressants. Otherwise, you might be setting them up for other health complications later on which might not have been necessary.
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This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2018/11/03 15:37:41
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![[Post New]](/s/i/i.gif) 2018/11/05 18:49:34
Subject: Depression in kids
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Storm Trooper with Maglight
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TheMeanDM wrote:Thanks all.
My intent was not to bypass professional help, but more to prepare myself for this process through hearing others' experiences with this.
There isn't anything that someone else out there hasn't been through, and while everyone's journey is different, learning about things which helped them through it can make some else's journey a little easier.
My wife and I have been dealing with some serious anxiety issues with our daughter and I think the best bit of advice I can give is to find a good medical professional and keep an open mind about what they tell you. Things are better right now but it's something we'll likely be doing at least basic maintenance with for years to come. The psychologist we found for our daughter helped her greatly but also provide my wife and I with the knowledge and tools we needed to be supportive in the right ways. I can tell you that the outcome of my wife and I supporting our daughter was night and day after help from the psychologist. We were able to help significantly more with that knowledge.
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