Depression Treatment for Kids

---

Depression

It is natural for children to to feel down at times. This is normal. However, depression becomes a concern when you start noticing changes in their behaviors for several days or weeks AND it starts negatively affecting their daily life.

Depression can affect children differently than adults. Children may have the typical symptoms of crying often, low energy and feeling sad, however children can also express their depression through irritability. They can be short tempered, moody and back talking more often.

Symptoms of Depression:

• Persistent feelings of sadness or emptiness
• Feeling hopeless
• Feelings of worthlessness or helplessness
• lack of interest in things you used to enjoy
• Irritability, anger
• Feeling guilty
• Thoughts of death or suicide
• Racing heart
• Suicide attempts
• Sleep difficulties
• Difficulty concentrating

If you notice your child experiencing some of these symptom, you may be feeling hopeless or worried. However, depression is a highly treatable condition. It has one of the greatest success outcomes in our profession. Please consider reaching out for support. There is hope.

What You Can Expect From Counseling with Me

For younger children who want to work online, I use a virtual playground! Children get very excited about this. I interact with them while sharing a computer screen. They can select virtual toys off of a shelf and as I observe what they choose, I can help them explore their feelings. For example, they may pick a stuffed animal that looks angry. I ask them to play out a time where they feel angry through the stuffed animal. That way I can get a better grasp of what your child is experiencing and I can help provide quality interventions. Simply brilliant

For in-person sessions, with young children, the idea is the same, except I let your child select from an entire selection of toys of a real bookshelf.

Contact Lillian