Depression and Your ChildDepression and Your Child

This book contains specific tips, recommendations, and case examples to help make parenting a depressed child less challenging. Seeing your child suffer in any way is a harrowing experience for any parent. Mental illness in children can be particularly draining due to the mystery surrounding it, and the issue of diagnosis at such a tender age. The book gives parents and caregivers an understanding of pediatric depression, its causes, its symptoms, and its treatments. The author weaves her own personal experiences of being a depressed child along with her clinical experiences as a psychologist treating depressed children. Current research, treatments and trends are presented and tough subjects like self-harm, suicide and recovery plans are addressed with supportive direction. Parents will learn tips on how to discipline a depressed child, what to expect from traditional treatments like psychotherapy and medication, how to use holistic methods to address depression, how to avoid caregiver burnout, and how to move through the trauma of diagnosis and plan for the future. Real life cases highlight the issues addressed in each chapter and resources and a glossary help to further understanding for those seeking additional information. Parents and caregivers are sure to find here a reassuring approach to childhood depression that highlights the needs of the child even while it emphasizes the need for caregivers to care for themselves and other family members as well.