Depression And Education

What is "depression"?

Depression, as I see it, is just a pervasive, which is to say a feeling that never goes away; sense of unhappiness, doom, or dissatisfaction with life. Depressed students on their best days are just a little bit less active than their same-age peers.

What are the major symptoms of depression?

Some of the major symptoms of depression in students include consistent truancy, a lack of desire to try, responses to questions along the lines of "I don't care", suicidal ideas, lethargic behaviour. Red eyes, puffiness, and just a very surly, negative outlook on life are also symptoms of depression.

How do the symptoms of depression affect my child's ability to learn?

Symptoms of depression can affect a child's ability to learn in that when a child is in a deep depression cycle they may not want to come to school. When they do come to school, children suffering from depression may be suffering from physical ailments such as headaches or stomach aches, backaches. The desire to perform in school may not be there in children suffering from depression. In fact, even when a student suffering from depression is on a high cycle or a good cycle, the desire is not as strong as some of his same aged peers. So when a student with depression is the down cycle it is completely absent altogether.

How can depression be addressed in class and at home?

The best recommendation I can give for working with students with depression and helping them to achieve some level of success is to know their strengths and weaknesses. Build on their strengths. Focus less on the things they cannot do. Once you've actually built up a student with depression's spirit by focusing on the things that they can do and helping them be successful, start looking at the things that they have difficulty with and breaking those things down into smaller pieces. Support them and help them achieve those things a little at a time. Be aware that children with depression may fall or they may stumble; take a couple steps back, and be there to catch them and to lift them back up.

When is it time to seek help for my child with depression?

Parents of children with depression should ask for help almost as soon as their children's depression has been diagnosed. Children with depression will experience cycles in their lifetimes. When a child with depression is in their low cycle, it is the worst time to ask for help because that is when the child is at their most desperate time of need. Depression is a disorder, a disability that requires constant monitoring, emotional, and even sometimes chemical support.