|
Preventing Depression in Children
This month I'm writing about a very
important topic; childhood depression.
There has been a startling increase in this condition over the past few decades
with depression rates in children and adolescents now reported to be 10
times higher than they were three decades ago.
The implications of childhood depression are very serious. Depression is
associated with poor academic performance, apathy, impaired relationships,
aggression, substance abuse, and suicide. And the younger a person first
becomes depressed, the more dire the long-term consequences.
Today I'm offering ideas to help you “immunize” your children against this
devastating condition.
Even if you don't have children, read on. The same strategies that prevent
depression in kids are very effective at preventing and treating depression
in adults.
What Causes Childhood Depression?
Research into depression has revealed that
two main preventable causes of childhood depression are helplessness and
pessimism.
Helplessness
Sometimes it is our own efforts to help children feel good about themselves
that backfire and result in helplessness and depression. In our attempts to
foster self-esteem, if we tell children that everything they do is special
or shield them from criticism and any potential blow to their developing
self-image, we are doing them a disservice. Unconditional praise quickly
loses value and becomes meaningless to children. Children quickly learn
that if everything is special, then nothing is really special and over time
they can become passive, helpless, and begin to believe that their efforts
don’t really matter. Those are powerful precursors to depression.
The reality is that children don’t develop self-esteem by receiving
unconditional and non-specific praise. To foster authentic self-esteem,
children need to accumulate experiences of mastery by learning that their
actions do matter and can successfully impact their environments. They need
to overcome challenges and receive warm but accurate feedback. Children who
are given the opportunity to explore their environments, problem-solve, and
persist in the face of obstacles experience less helplessness, apathy and
depression and develop assertiveness, persistence, and self-assurance.
Those are the ingredients in true self-esteem.
Pessimism
Pessimistic thinking is associated with depression, social and academic
problems, and even health problems. Optimists feel better about themselves and are more hopeful and persistent. And
since we now know that optimism can be trained, it’s important to identify
pessimistic thinking so that we can take steps to modify it as soon as
possible.
More than simply “glass half full” vs. “glass half empty” thinking, we
distinguish optimism and pessimism by the way people cope with negative
events. To illustrate, let’s use the example of failing a test in school. A
pessimist takes a failure personally (“It’s my fault, I’m not smart”), and
believes that the implications are permanent (“I’ll never succeed), and
far-reaching (“Everything goes wrong for me”). An optimist has a different
set of interpretations for the same event. Rather than taking it
personally, the optimist places responsibility elsewhere or shares
responsibility, (“That test was really hard”), and assumes consequences
will be temporary (“Next time I’ll do better”) and contained (“I did poorly
on that test, but did really well on my science test”).
Programs that train children to become more optimistic focus on teaching
them to become “thought detectives” by looking for alternative and more
optimistic explanations for negative events, just like detectives.
Childhood depression prevention programs that use optimism and mastery
training have been found to reduce rates of depression in at-risk children
by up to 50%.
What You Can Do
Create opportunities for mastery
Within appropriate boundaries, allow children to help out, let them make
mistakes and correct them on their own. Allow them to overcome frustration,
praise them liberally for their efforts and provide accurate feedback for
their actions and creations. Provide a loving and safe environment for them
to become masterful and to cultivate authentic self-esteem.
Promote optimistic explanations
Bad things do happen to everyone sometimes, and you’re not doing your
children any favors by shielding them from the opportunity to strengthen
themselves by learning to cope with normal problems of living. Your
children will be happier, stronger, and more effective in the long run when
they learn to become thought detectives. When something negative occurs in
your child’s life, help them detect temporary, contained and
non-personalized explanations. With practice, these “detective” skills will
become habits and your children will, in effect, be “immunized” against
depression.
Practice what you preach
Optimism training is effective in adults as well as children. You can
practice optimistic thinking yourself and be a great role model for your kids.
Remember, the same strategies that work for children have been found to be
very effective in preventing and treating depression in adults.
|
For further reading
The Optimistic Child by Martin E.P Seligman. This book
describes theory and research into the epidemic of depression, and
describes methods to prevent depression in children.
Along similar lines, Seligman also wrote Learned Optimism which
describes how adults can learn to become thought detectives.
These books can be purchased through my website by clicking here.
Positive Plan
Updates
The JumpStart to Personal
Transformation programs are coming soon!
These programs are designed to provide you with the tools, skills,
information and materials you'll need to finally make the changes you
desire.
Two tracks will be available.
Permanent Weight Control: If you want to lose weight for good and
are ready to forget about fad diets that just don't work.
Life Resculpting for Women:If you are a woman at midcareer or midlife and you want to balance what you
do for others with the need to accept and express your own true colors.
These 3 session programs can get you started on the course to permanent
transformation more quickly than you ever thought possible.
Individual programs will be available in July and group programs will be
available in the fall.
Final Thoughts
The ability to become a "thought detective" is one
of the most powerful skills you can teach your children, and learn
yourselves.
It is much more important for people to be able to think flexibly and
strategically than to be locked into any pattern of thinking, even
optimism. In most cases, optimism and hopefulness are pleasant and useful.
But there are certain occasions when a dose of pessimism can come in handy
too. By learning to recognize and question your own thinking, you can
become what I call a strategic thinker and optimize your moods and your
effectiveness.
To learn more about strategic thinking, give me a call at 518-478-0093 or
email Michelle@PositivePlan.com. Your initial consultation is
always free.
Feel free to forward this to anyone who might be interested. If you would
like to subscribe, please email me or visit my website.
Michelle
The Positive Plan
Michelle Marks, PhD
5 William Paca
Court
Glenmont, NY 12077
Phone: 518-478-0093
Fax: 518-478-9038 email: Michelle@PositivePlan.com www.michellemarks.com
Copyright(c)2004 Michelle Marks
All rights reserved worldwide.
No part of this document may be copied or sold.
|
