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Understanding Children and Young People’s Mental Health
How to recognise signs that a child or young person could
be depressed
Stressed and anxious children may provide clues in their play by demonstrating a lot of
fighting games with their toys and friends. Aggression and fighting in young children is
usually demonstrated for a good reason.
It can be hard sometimes to separate the signs and symptoms of depression from
those of the more common teenage behaviours such as being moody, irritable
and grumpy.
Depression affects different people in different ways. Some of the signs of
depression can include:
• Feelings of hopelessness and being self-critical
• Not wanting to do things that were previously enjoyed and avoiding friends
and social situations
• Feeling tired, withdrawn and moody
• Being easily upset and tearful
• Sleeping more than normal and sleep disturbances
• A significant change in eating habits – either eating too much or not enough
• Neglecting personal appearance
• Feeling miserable a lot of the time
• Feeling the desire to harm yourself.
Experiencing several of these feelings over a long period of time may mean that the
person is depressed.
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