Do babies and preschool children experience depression?
For many parents, even mental health professionals, it is difficult to imagine that an infant or toddler will develop depression. However, it was reported in the 1940s that depression could be seen in infants. Rene Spitz (1946) reported that in babies separated from their mothers, sadness, anxiety, indifference to the environment, social withdrawal, developmental regression, decrease in response to stimuli and movements, melancholy, tendency to sleep, decrease in appetite and refusal to eat, look around with a sad and worried facial expression. defined “anaclitic depression” characterized by staring, crying. This could include psychic pain that could go as far as the infant’s death, even though the need for food and shelter was met. Spitz’s work was not appreciated for years, possibly because it dealt with extraordinary social situations and children who lost their parents in the war. In the 1960s and 1970s, it was assumed that depression could not be seen in infants and preschoolers due to limitations in their cognitive and emotional capacities, and deficiencies in the development of the superego and self-perception. Although symptoms of depression were observed during this period, it was claimed to be “temporary and insignificant”. However, Puig-Antic (1978) published a study showing the presence of depression in prepubertal children. Kreiser (1987) reported life-threatening eating disorders with depression and fatal vomiting in infants younger than 24 months, which he claimed to be under the influence of “death instinct” (thanatos drive) instead of “life instinct” (eros dirve) based on Freud’s hypothesis. reported a clinical picture. Bowlby (1980) showed that a picture resembling depression occurs after babies are separated from caregivers. Bowlby found that infants leaving their caregivers react in three stages: 1) crying, protest, anxiety, sleep and feeding problems 2) a complete depressive syndrome characterized by apathy, decreased activity and loss of interest in the environment) persistence of apathy despite the caregiver’s return. The protective effect of Bowlby’s “secure attachment and caregiver’s emotional and physical presence” in infants and children formed one of the cornerstones of studies on infancy and childhood depression. Subsequently, Kovacs et al. (1984) and Luby et al. (2003) published papers on the validity of child depression. The belief that depression can be seen in infants and preschool children has become stronger. Moreover, it was reported that children with pre-school depression were more depressed in school age than those with other disorders or the healthy group. This may be a sign that early depression continues with “chronic and recurrent” similar to later childhood and adolescence.
Clinical Symptoms of Depression in Preschool Period
Previously, it was reported that childhood depression did not have a typical picture similar to adolescents and adults, but rather “masked” symptoms. Among these symptoms, physical symptoms (eg, abdominal pain) and behavioral problems such as aggression (aggression) were prominent. In later studies, depression phenomenology similar to adults in preschool children
was found.
