If your child is depressed, parents should do this! Help children get out of depression

Are children also prone to depression? Yes! A survey report on more than 60,000 primary and secondary school students across the country showed that 11.03% of students in our country are troubled by depressive symptoms.

There are many reasons for depressive symptoms in primary and secondary school students, including individual factors (such as poor environmental adaptability, psychological fragility, easy to think about things, etc.), family factors (such as neglect or lack of parental care in early childhood) , parents’ insufficient positive evaluation of their children, etc.), school factors (such as disharmonious peer relationships that often make primary and secondary school students feel lonely, teachers’ lack of love and patience for students, etc.).

When children become depressed, parents are at a loss

Some parents began to seek medical advice or consult information, began to reflect on their own family education mistakes, and some began to ask their children After admitting their mistakes and reflecting on their mistakes, some dare not lose their temper with their children anymore. However, these changes made by parents are all to "treat their children's diseases." According to some children's words, "They are all temporary changes" and "They are all just pretending." They don’t know what the problem is”...

What should parents do when their children are depressed?

1 See things before they happen: pay attention to children’s specific manifestations

For example, if the child is persistently depressed and has no fun, the child feels that he does not have the same sense of happiness as before and is in a relatively stable and persistent state of unhappiness. , depressed emotional state;

Academically, it shows the inability to concentrate, memory decline, slow response or reduced learning efficiency. The teacher cannot keep up with the lectures. After class review, I know a lot of words, but I can’t understand them. Relatively slow, unable to concentrate, easily distracted, etc.;

Problems occur during sleep, which are more prominent such as waking up early, difficulty falling asleep, or even sleeping shallowly after falling asleep or staying up all night.

There may also be changes in appetite, that is, a loss of appetite, a decrease in food intake, and feelings of fatigue and low energy.

Some children may also experience various non-specific physical discomforts, such as headaches, dizziness, acid reflux, nausea, palpitation, etc.

The focus of depression is prevention, early detection and early treatment. Parents should first pay attention to their children's emotional changes, especially specific manifestations. If a child is found to have the above symptoms, family members should pay attention to it and take the child to a doctor as soon as possible.

2 Don’t hide your illness and avoid seeking treatment, let alone seek medical treatment in a hurry

If your child suffers from depression, you must first take your child to a mental health specialist hospital for a clear diagnosis and timely treatment according to the situation. It is best to use a two-pronged approach, drug treatment and psychological treatment.

Don’t seek medical treatment in a hurry, make temporary arrangements, burn incense and pray to Buddha everywhere, ask Bodhisattvas for blessings, and ask Feng Shui masters to adjust Feng Shui. They often use advertisements that exaggerate the efficacy to attract the families of patients. These misleading and deceptive scams are aimed at Patients with refractory depression often spend money and waste time.

Parents should learn more about mental health science related to depression, understand the effective psychological treatment theories and methods commonly used for depression, understand the process of psychological consultation and treatment, and actively cooperate with psychological treatment or psychological consultation.

3 It is very important to have “understanding” companionship

Parents’ companionship is of course important, but the companionship process requires true understanding. Even if you still don’t understand in the end, try An understanding attitude is already a positive act.

Try to listen to the illness process experienced by children with depression and the impact of illness, and then talk about the parents’ own understanding and confusion, or share that they want to help but are unable to do so. Feelings, ask your children what they can do?

4 Parents also need psychological consultation and treatment

While their children are undergoing psychological treatment or psychological consultation, it is best for parents to also participate Psychological counseling and therapy, especially when the child agrees to counseling or therapy with the parent, family psychotherapy and counseling can be carried out.

Children's depression has its own psychological function. It is often a sign of problems in the family system and a signal that the family needs to make changes.

Therefore, it is very important for parents to receive counseling and treatment in conjunction with family therapy or child counseling.

A counselor or therapist will help parents see patterns of problems in the family system, help parents become aware of the ways in which parent-child interactions need to change, or help parents become aware of communication and interaction patterns between couples.

Through changes in parents or families, children’s depression is often alleviated or cured.

5 Slowly adjust the family atmosphere

When a child is depressed, it is a big event for the family, even a shocking event or a crisis event, especially when the child often raises Parents who want to commit suicide will often be in a state of high tension. Over time, parents will feel collapsed, and they may even suffer from severe insomnia, anxiety, and depression.

Some parents began to escape, couples began to blame each other, and some marriages even disintegrated.

Therefore, the family atmosphere needs to be stabilized and normalized with the help of doctors or psychologists.

The rhythm of family life needs to be gradually restored, and family leisure activities need to be gradually enriched.

The family needs to have more games or sports activities, eat out more or have more gatherings at home, and add some entertainment activities or activities such as reading, watching movies, playing the piano, singing, etc.

As the child's mood stabilizes, parents' work also needs to slowly adjust and gradually return to normal. Of course, if parents are workaholics, they need to make adjustments, reduce overtime work and business trips, and ensure that they can spend time with their children on weekends and evenings.

Children who have symptoms of depression or have been diagnosed with depression especially need the understanding and cooperation of their parents during the intervention process. Parents should work with their children to make positive adjustments.