如何發(fā)現(xiàn)孩子們的抑郁和焦慮

如何發(fā)現(xiàn)孩子們的抑郁和焦慮

When we lose a beloved superstar like Robin Williams to an apparent suicide and learn he had been battling severe depression before his death, it's natural to think about our own loved ones.

當我們得知羅賓·威廉姆斯(Robin Williams)在自殺之前一直在與嚴重的抑郁癥作斗爭時，我們很自然會想到自己所愛的人。

We might look around at our adult family members and friends who are suffering and try to get them the help they need, but what we might not see is that children and adolescents can get depressed and anxious, too.

我們可能會環(huán)顧周圍正在遭受痛苦的成年家庭成員和朋友，試圖幫助他們，但我們可能沒有看到的是，兒童和青少年也會抑郁和焦慮。

And it's more common than we probably realize.

這比我們想象的要普遍得多。

On any given day, according to studies, it is estimated that 2% of elementary-school-age children and 8% of adolescents suffer from a major depression, and one in five teens has had a history of depression at some time, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness .

根據(jù)國家精神疾病聯(lián)盟的研究，在任何一天，據(jù)估計，2%的小學生和8%的青少年患有嚴重的抑郁癥，五分之一的青少年曾有過抑郁癥史。

But how does a parent differentiate between what might be considered normal irritability and moodiness, especially during those teenage years, and signs that something more serious is afoot?

但是，父母如何區(qū)分正常的易怒性和情緒化呢，尤其是在青少年時期，以及一些正在發(fā)生的更嚴重的跡象呢?

"I think you should start worrying ... when you go, 'Oh, my God, they don't seem like themselves,' " said Dr. Charles Raison, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Arizona College of Medicine.

亞利桑那大學醫(yī)學院精神病學教授查爾斯·雷森博士說，“我認為你應該開始擔心了…當你說‘哦，天哪，他們看起來不像他們自己了’的時候。”

Raison says parents should perk up if, for two to three weeks, their children are "unremittingly down," feeling hopeless and negative, if they start to withdraw from friends and activities, and if they experience dramatic changes in sleep.

雷森說，如果孩子在兩到三周內“持續(xù)地情緒低落”，感到絕望和消極，如果他們開始遠離朋友和活動，如果他們的睡眠發(fā)生劇烈變化，父母們應該警覺起來了。

Depressed teens might have difficulty falling asleep, not be able to fall back asleep after they wake up in the middle of the night or wake up very early in the morning. At the other end of the spectrum, they could be getting excessive amounts of sleep, sometimes sleeping 12 hours or more, psychiatrists say.

抑郁的青少年可能難以入睡，半夜醒來后無法再次入睡，或者早上很早就醒來。精神病學家說，另一方面，他們可能睡眠過多，有時睡12個小時或更長時間。

For younger kids, detecting depression gets "more complicated" for parents, Raison said, because children below the age of puberty don't necessarily show the same signs of depression as teens and adults.

對父母來說，發(fā)現(xiàn)年幼的孩子是否抑郁變得“更加復雜”，雷森說，因為青春期以下的孩子不一定會表現(xiàn)出與青少年和成年人相同的抑郁癥狀。

"The younger the kid, the more scrambled the symptoms can be," he said. "They're easily upset. They cry more. They're scared to sleep alone at night. They become irritable. They act out more."

“孩子越小，癥狀就越復雜，”他說。“他們很容易心煩意亂。他們哭得會更多。他們害怕晚上一個人睡。他們變得易怒。他們會有更多的動作。”

In younger children, parents aren't likely to see the "classic depressive pattern," Raison said. "But you're still looking for that same larger idea, which is if your kid shows a real maladaptive change in their emotions [and] their behavior, the light needs to go off in your head, because something isn't right."

在年幼的孩子身上，父母不太可能看到“典型的抑郁模式”，雷森說。“但你仍然在尋找一個同樣的更大的想法，那就是如果你的孩子在他們的情緒(和)行為上出現(xiàn)了真正的不適應性變化，你的大腦就需要亮起紅燈，因為有些事情不對勁。”

Melissa Atkins Wardy, a mom of two in Janesville, Wisconsin, and author of "Redefining Girly,"said she was never aware that children as young as her daughter Amelia, now 8, could develop anxiety.

梅麗莎·阿特金斯·沃迪是威斯康星州簡斯維爾兩個孩子的母親，也是《重新定義女孩》一書的作者。她說，她從來沒有意識到，像她現(xiàn)在8歲的女兒阿米莉亞這樣的孩子可能會產生焦慮。

But halfway through first grade, Amelia said she didn't want to go to school, and reluctance to go to school and then tears and worry at bedtime, too, said Atkins Wardy, founder and CEO of the company Pigtail Pals & Ballcap Buddies, which creates empowering T-shirts for girls and boys.

但是在上一年級的時候，阿米莉亞說她不想去上學，抗拒上學，然后睡覺時也會流淚和擔心，Pigtail Pals&Ballcap Buddies公司的創(chuàng)始人兼首席執(zhí)行官阿特金斯·沃迪說，該公司為女孩和男孩制作有力量的T恤。

Her daughter was eventually diagnosed as having general anxiety and has been seeing a "wonderful" therapist, Atkins Wardy said, for about a year.

阿特金斯·沃迪說，她的女兒最終被診斷出患有一般性焦慮癥，并在大約一年的時間里一直在看一位“很棒的”治療師。