Evaluation of a Current Child Health Issue Essay

Evaluation of a Current Child Health Issue - Essay ExampleDepression, an some other emotional disorder, is also on the go with young people with at least 2 per cent of children under 12 and 5 per cent of teenagers suffering from depression (op.cit.). Depression is associated with feelings of extreme grief (NHS, 2010, para.6) which not only last for long periods of time, but is also recurrent and may further develop into suicidal tendencies (ibid). Brent and Birmaher (2002) noted that depression in both children and adolescents is not always demonstrated by sadness, but can take the form of irritability, boredom and the inability to find pleasure. Younger adolescents may channelise more than anxiety-related symptoms, clinging behaviours, unexplained fears and physical symptoms, while older adolescents may experience a greater loss of interest and pleasure and also have more morbid thinking (Kalb & Raymond, 2003 Mondimore, 2002). Lewinsohn et al. (1998) found that nearly 89% of dep ressed adolescents reported disturbances in sleep. With younger children in the early childhood stop, depression is manifested by disguised symptoms such as a complaint of stomach ache or aggression (Carlson & Cantwell, 1980 Hazel, 2002 Luby et al., 2003). These symptoms are fairly common in children, so it is not ordinarily identified as a depressive symptom. However, when young children have these symptoms and are also seen to be irritable, bored or not finding pleasure, especially in fulfill which is inherently fun, then they may act symptoms of early childhood depression (Brent and Birmaher, 2002). The difficulty with reaching a clear diagnosis of depression at this stage is that young children are perceived to be developmentally too immature to experience the effects of such a heavy emotion (Stalets & Luby, 2006). On the other hand, studies have shown that in fact children at this stage are far more emotionally sophisticated than they are given credit for (Denham et al., 2 002 Denham et al., 2003 Saarni, 2000 Lewis et al., 1992 Lewis et al., 1989). Depression in very young children results in experiencing complicated emotions such as guilt and shame (Luby et al., 2009) and as younger children mask their depression it can be harder to spot a need early on. Some children who are depressed may actually avidly participate in activities with others such as singing and bound and even exaggerate their actions. This makes diagnosis even harder and early intervention difficult. Depression can develop from a combination of different factors (risk factors) such as genetics, physiological, environmental and socio-economic factors such as parents unemployment , sickness and large families in small houses, bullying of peers or abuse from adults (Northen, 2004). If these risk factors are already present in the childs life then significant life changes such as a death of a significant other, parental disassociate and other tragedies will greatly increase the likel ihood of childhood depression. One particularly important factor that affects a childs likelihood of underdeveloped depression is the quality of their relationship with their family. Brofenbrenners Ecological model (1979) explains that family is part of the childs microsystem and the primary providers of the child