AP41864

= Many depressed preschoolers still suffer in later school years =

Depressed preschooler were 2.5 times more likely to suffer from the condition in elementary and middle school than kids who were not depressed at very young ages, according to researchers at Washington University School at Washington Medicine in St. Louis. “It’s the same old bad news about depression; it is a chronic and recurrent disorder,” said child psychiatrist Joan L. Luby, MD who directs Washington University’s Early Emotional Development Program. The investigators follower 246 children, now ages 9 to 12, who were enrolled in the study as preschoolers when they were 3 to 5 years old. The children and their primary caregivers participates in up to six annual and four semiannual assessments. They were screened using a tool called Preschool Feelings Checklist, developed by Luby and her colleagues, and evaluated using an age-appropriate diagnostic interview. Researchers used a two way mirror to evaluate child-caregiver interactions because the team’s earlier research had shown that a lack of parental nurturing is an important risk factor for recurrence of depression. At the start of the study, 74 of the children were diagnosed with depression. When the researchers evaluated the same group six years later, they found that 79 children met the full criteria for clinical depression based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-V). This manual contains the American Psychiatric Association’s most up-to-date official guidelines for diagnosing and treating psychiatric illness. In Mastering the World of Psychology (Chapter 12.7) it talks about Major Depressive Disorder. Depression can be so severe that people develop delusions or hallucinations, which are symptoms of psychotic depression. The more deeply a person descends into depression over an extended period, the more she or he withdraws from social activities.

Joan L. Luby, Michael S. Gaffrey, Rebeca Tillman, Laura M. April, Andy C. Belden. Trajectories of Preschool Disorders to full DSM Depression at School Age and Early Adolescence: Continuity of Preschool Depression. American Journal of Psychiatry, 2014; 171 (7); 768 DOI: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2014.13091198
 * REFERENCES:**

Washington University in St. Louis. "Many depressed preschoolers still suffer in later school years." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily ,30 July 2014.

Wood, Samuel E., Ellen R. Green. Wood, and Denise Roberts. Boyd. Mastering the World of Psychology. Fourth ed. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon, 2011. Print.

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