Mental illness can’t grow only in the elderly, it can occur in children too. No one can imagine that mental illness can spread their feet even in childhood, but the truth is that today depression is taking childhood in its lap. Inability to share their thoughts with anyone, living alone, not concentrating on studies are some of the problems that get converted into mental illness. Parent are not aware of their children’s attitude and behavior, they constantly put pressure on them to show their performance. Children also understand that their parent is not having any solution to the problems, that’s why they start living in stress, pressure and depression. They do not want to talk to anyone and this increases the trouble.

Reasons:

Behind the mental illness of children, three main reasons can be there: physical, mental and social. Physical factors include heredity and chances of other family members to have the same problem. Mental factors include what child thinks about him, or about a certain situation. Social factors are those factors and conditions in which child has grown.

The main reason for depression in children are- unnecessary expectations from parents, differences between parents and their separation, pressure to bring the maximum marks, change in schools due to job, abused by peer groups etc. There are many children who have lack of self confidence, they keep on thinking about their looks, weight, height and figure. Their friends keep joking on them for their poor performance and bad looks which make them depressed. They are unable to share the feeling with anyone and parent are not able to understand the condition, that’s why psychiatrists say that parent need to keep in mind that symptoms of depression can vary in small and young children. If parent are not cautious about their children’s behavior, they do not pay attention to their points and problems, then this can have serious consequences.

How counseling helps?

If parent came to know that his child is suffering from the depression, they should follow him for some days. They should look for the changes in him. For more information they can contact their friends and ask teachers for any notable change. It is also possible that children can’t talk to their parent freely on this topic, that’s why they should consult psychiatrist. According to Psychiatrists, counseling is not necessary only for the children, parent also require same level of session. Sometime, session can be taken with both child and parent together but prior to that permission should be taken from the child, if he is comfortable in front of them.

Clinical psychiatrists say that presence of parent is necessary during the treatment of the child as sometime parent are unaware of the problem.  The depression is dwelling in our children’s mind and thus it is necessary that parent should not be strict with them, don’t crush their ambitions, should pay attention on them, congratulate them on their victory, indulge them in important discussions, increase their confidence , don’t compare with them to others. If possible, take the help of counselors who deal in mental health issues.