Content area
Abstract
Depression is a mood disorder that has been recognized in adults, with a variety of etiologies and subtypes. The past twenty years have seen a preponderance of literature which applies the same etiologies and subtypes to children and adolescents. Most of the same adult criteria are currently used to diagnose depression in children and adolescents. Because relatively few children and adolescents can recognize and report the existence of depression to doctors, one of the criteria for the identification of the disorder is that the child "looks depressed". This criteria has not been clearly defined, especially in terms of observable behaviors, but the common assumption seems to be that lack of eye contact and smiling along with tearfulness are the defining observable behaviors. The present study investigated such behaviors among children and adolescents who had been hospitalized for emotional and behavioral problems (not including drug and alcohol abuse) and found that it is possible to discriminate between depressed and nondepressed children and adolescents by slow or absent gross body movements, appetite and sleep disturbance, and school refusal. The commonly assumed behaviors were not able to discriminate between depressed and nondepressed children and adolescents. Other correlations were obtained which suggest that anxiety may coexist with depression and that the patients themselves are better able to identify their mood disorder than are their parents. No gender differences were obtained. A description of a checklist for observing depressive behaviors in children and adolescents, along with implementation procedures, is presented.
