When we think of depression, we very seldom think of children. "Children have nothing to be depressed about," we may think. "They don't have any real responsibilities, like house payments or jobs...all they have to do is go to school and have fun! Why in the world would a child - with an easy, carefree existence - be depressed?"

While most people think of depression as a disorder of adulthood, in fact it can appear at any time - even in infancy. Depressed children may become clingy, tired, listless, or anxious. They may refuse to go to school and may try to hurt themselves (banging their head against a wall, for example). They may lose interest in normal activities and start having problems in school. If the child's depression is severe enough, even a youngster no more than five or six may deliberately attempt suicide.

Depression, rather than a depressed mood, is actually an illness. Some causes for childhood depression are obvious, but some are not. An unhappy home life, difficult social situations, real or imagined fears of failure, and worries about physical or emotional harm are common culprits.

In many instances, chemical deficiencies in the brain can lead to depression. A history of close family members who suffer from depression increases the chance for the child of also developing depression.

Most childhood depression is not caused by a single episode, however, and is usually the cumulation of several or long-term events.

Sometimes conditions such as sleep deprivation masquerade as psychological problems. Older children and teens who stay up into the wee hours using comput- ers, talking on the phone or doing school- work can fall victim to symptoms that mimic depression. Often, taking a nap for a few days can clear up the symptoms.

Childhood Depression

Normal behaviors vary so much form one childhood stage to another that it sometimes is difficult to know whether a child is suffering from depression or just going through the Terrible Twos, Sulky Sevens or the Trying Teens.

However, depression should be suspected if a child exhibits long-term symptoms such as apathy, increased agitation, change in eating or sleeping habits, or changes in relationships with those once close.

In children, there can be many reasons for depressive episodes.

Loss of love, affection and/or attention from someone the child is close to, or a caregiver, can lead to a depressive episode. The loss may be caused by death, divorce, moving from one location to another, or prolonged absence of the beloved person (i.e., a foster care situation). In some instances the caregiver may remain physically present in the child's life, but for some reason withdraw from the child emotionally. Humiliation and rejection of the child by caregiver can also be a catalyst for a depressive episode.

In young children, family therapy is the most commonly used approach to help a depressed child. In older children, individual therapy may also be utilized.

Medications, such as antidepressants or lithium, may also be used, but only when the depression appears severe, or the child is of danger to himself or others.

Adolescent Depression

Depression in teens is not all that uncommon; some surveys indicated that as many as 20 percent of high-school students experience some form of depression.

Teens face the problem of trying to "break away" from being a child, and "becoming" an adult; the world of an adolescent is often chaotic and full of peer- and parental pressures. They are often asked to make decisions about their long-term futures: "What do you want to be when you grow up?" and "Where do you want to go to college?" Their hormones are often guiding them as they learn to build new kinds of relationships. Body image takes on a whole new meaning; one teen who had battled a weight problem for years was still depressed after a major weight loss. In the end, she committed suicide. "Even after she lost all that weight," one of her friends recalled, "She smiled with her mouth, but never with her eyes."

Unfortunately, suicide is a very real concern for depressed adolescents. Therapists believe that talking with teens about their feelings is helpful; ignoring suicidal thoughts or behaviors makes suicide more likely to occur.

In many cases, teenage depression is often masked as truancy from school, drug or alcohol abuse, disobedience, self-destructive behavior, sexual promiscuity, running away, for feelings of inferiority and loneliness. Because these symptoms can also be contributed to "typical teen" behavior, depression often goes undiagnosed in adolescents.

As with younger children, therapy and medication are the best solutions to helping a teenager overcome their feelings of hopelessness and helplessness. For teens who may be a danger to themselves, hospitalization may also be required.
It is important that families make strong commitments to children and adolescents

that have experienced depression - there is a 50% chance they will experience another episode at some point in their lives. They need patience, understanding, openness and respect in learning to deal with what is more than just "the blues."

Signs and Symptoms of Depression

• Persistent sadness and hopelessness
• Withdrawal from friends and activities once enjoyed
• Increased irritability or agitation
• Missed school or poor school performance
• Changes in sleeping habits
• Indeceision, lack of concentration or forgetfulness
• Poor self-esteem or guilt
• Frequent physical complaints, such as headaches and stomachaces
• Lack of enthusiasm, low energy or motivation
• Drug and/or alcohol abuse
• Recurring thoughts of death or suicide
• Fluctuation between apathy and talkativeness
• Anger, rage, verbal sarcasm and attack
• Overreaction to criticism
• Feelings of being unable to satisfy ideals
• Intense ambivalence between dependence and independence
• Feelings of emptiness in life
• Pessimism about the future
• Increased or decreased appetite, severe weight gain or loss

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Dyslexia: Disability or Gift?

from The Dyslexia Center, Santa Rosa, CA
(www.dyslexiecenler.com)

"Dyslexia" is an ability within the sensory mechanism of the nervous system to perceive the world with a multidimensional view.

When properly trained and informed, a dyslexic can use their natural abilities to shift perceptions, enhance creativity, concretize thinking, and improve physical performance. Dyslexia only becomes a "disability" when uncorrected perceptual distortions occur, creating confusion and conflicting information which cannot be processed clearly Dyslexia is unknown in countries like China where pictorial writing Is used. In languages where symbolic sequential alphabets exist however, such as in Western cultures like our own, dyslexia is common.

Many highly educated and talented people have dyslexia The disadvantages of dyslexia may include: not being able to read, write, spell, compute math, or pay attention. Whether you are a child or an adult, we have solutions for your special learning needs.

Dyslexia is caused by a difference in brain structure which is present at birth and is often hereditary. As a result, incoming or outgoing information gets scrambled as it travels between the senses and the brain. This condition does not affect the intelligence level - yet it does impair ones ability to learn, retain, and express information.

Recognizing and manipulating symbols, especially letters and numbers in sequence, presents the most universal acknowledged problem. Reading, writing, and math, taught by traditional methods, can be difficult, if not impossible, for the person with dyslexia to master. Poor memory, coordination problems, confusion of right and left, and impaired depth perception are also common attributes.

As noted, dyslexia is not just a severe reading disorder characterized by reversals. It is a syndrome of many and varied reading and non-reading symptoms such as:

• Memory instability for letters, words, or numbers.
• A tendency to skip over or scramble letters, words, and sentences.
• A poor, slow, fatiguing reading ability prone to compensatory head tilting, near-far focusing, and finger pointing.
• Reversals of letters such as band d, words such as saw and was, and numbers such as 6 and 9 or 16 and 61.
• Letter and word blurring, doubling, movement, scrambling, omission, insertion, size change, etc.
• Poor concentration, distractibility, light sensitivity (photophobia), tunnel vision, delayed visual and phonetic processing, etc.

Writing

• Messy, poorly angulated, or drifting handwriting prone to size, spacing, and letter-sequencing errors.

Spelling, Math, Memory, and Grammar

• Memory instability for spelling, grammar, math, names, dates, and lists, or sequences such as the alphabet, the days of the week and months of the year, and directions.

Speech

• Speech disorders such as slurring, stuttering, minor articulation errors, poor word recall, and auditory-input and motor-output speech lags.

Direction

• Right/left and related directional uncertainty.

Time

• Delay in learning to tell time.

Concentration and Activity

• Impaired concentration, distractibility, hyperactivity, or overactivity

Behavior, Temper, or Impulse disturbances.

Balance and Coordination

• Difficulties with balance and coordination functions, i.e., walking, running, skipping, hopping, tying shoelaces, and buttoning buttons.

Psychosomatics

• Difficulties with headaches, nausea, dizziness, vomiting, motion sickness, abdominal complaints, excessive sweating, and bed-wetting.

Self-esteem

• Feeling stupid, ugly, incompetent, brainless.

Phobias and Related Mood and Obsessive/Compulsive Disorders

• Fears of the dark, heights, getting lost, going to school.
• Fear or the avoidance of various balance, coordination, sports, and motion-related activities.
• Mood disturbances.
• Obsessions and compulsions.