Childhood depression and suicide.

Recent years have witnessed accumulating evidence that the disorders subsumed under the heading of childhood depression are much more prevalent than used to be believed; that these conditions in prepubertal youngsters are more similar to those disorders occurring in adolescents and adults than was previously believed; that childhood depression can co-exist with many other childhood conditions; and that, although a rare occurrence, suicide is committed by older children. To quote a professional in the child mental health field: It is difficult to see how depression could not be involved in almost every form of psychopathology. The various theories of personality speculate on the existence of unhappy and depressing feelings and cognitions at the core of human development, with ineffective means of dealing with these concerns expressed by abnormalities. . . . Thus it becomes reasonable to argue that depression is everywhere in childhood and adulthood and hence we must be careful to specify under what conditions it is to be regarded as pathological.