Disturbed Preschoolers are Likely to Suffer Depression at School age and Adolescence: Study

Depression in preschoolers is likely to persist throughout their childhood and adolescence, finds a study.

Psychiatrists at the Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis found depression can reappear in later parts of life in those who were clinically diagnosed with the condition at a very young age. Mental distress and depression if identified early can be treated before progressing into a serious mental health issues and triggering suicidal tendencies. Their research involved 246 children of whom 74 were diagnosed with depression when aged between three and five. The parents and caregivers of these children were interviewed about mood fluctuations, emotional outbursts, irritability, guilt, sleep, appetite and interest in everyday activities.

Six years later, 79 children reportedly exhibited depressive symptoms and over 51 percent of those 74 depressed preschoolers experienced the condition as school-age children. Only 24 percent of 172 participants who were not depressed in early childhood developed the mental disorder during prepubescent age.

In addition, the study noted depression was common among children whose mothers suffered from the same condition. Mothers' behavior and lack of nurturing during tender age hiked up the risk of depression in later life. These findings debunk past studies that hold children as young as three or four cannot be clinically depressed.

The authors urge schools to introduce screening and mental health check-ups for preschoolers to identify at risk patients and prevent negative effects of depression on their physical and emotional well-being.

"It's the same old bad news about depression; it is a chronic and recurrent disorder. If we can identify depression early, perhaps we have a window of opportunity to treat it more effectively and potentially change the trajectory of the illness so that it is less likely to be chronic and recurring," said Joan L. Luby, study author and director at the Washington University's Early Emotional Development Program in a news release.

More information is available online in the American Journal of Psychiatry.