Childhood is seen as a phase of the vital cycle where dependence on the care of others, happiness and disengagement predominate; however, child development is primordial for the evolution of the human being.
Diagnosis
Sometimes, the educator is the first to perceive changes in conduct and behavior of the child, this Professional can be a great ally in the early diagnosis of psychiatric pathologies in childhood. The school is the place where the experiences and social demands of the child are initiated, demanding from them the social integration and the development of physical and emotional abilities, in such a way that, in case there is some previous psychic/emotional damage, the school context can become a source of frustrations and still be the place for the appearance of problems that were obscured in the protective family environment
a diagnosis of a severe depressive episode is first necessary, so the patient must have presented 5 or more of the following symptoms within a period of two weeks, at least one of them being dysphoria or anhedonia (lack of pleasure):
- Dysphoria most of the day
- Accentuated anhedonia most of the day in daily life activities
- Significant weight loss or gain without being on a diet
- Insomnia
- Agitation
- Fatigue almost every day
- Feeling of uselessness or inappropriate guilt
- Diminished ability to think
- Recurring thoughts of death, suicidal ideation
Treatment
The treatment has its beginning with the establishment of the relationship of trust between the professional, the patient and their relatives (parents and guardians) associated with the analysis of the severity of the depressive condition, so that the mild and moderate can be managed, initially, with the psychotherapy alone, already in the severe conditions there is need for association with the pharmacological therapy. It should be noted that in patients with Unipolar Major Depression in pediatric age, 60% - 90% of patients treated reach remission in about one year with very frequent recurrences throughout life ( Thapar et al., 2012; Katsuki et al., 2014).
Conclusion
The learning process involves both biological referentials, such as food and sleep, psychological as affections and bonds, social with games and cultural as the fantasy of fairy tales. Depression can lead to excessive daytime sleepiness and/or insomnia at night, and with this, the production of the growth hormone (GH) is compromised; as well as, it can diminish the appetite and the infantile taste, being able to evolve to malnutrition. The GH is produced 80% of it during sleep, as well as the memory is solidified when sleeping. It is reinforced here that memorization is an indispensable process for the acquisition and fixation of new knowledge. On the other hand, food is primordial for the body and the brain, taking into account that this organ feeds 12% more on oxygen, glucose, among others, during sleep than during vigil. If depression compromises the child’s nutrition, sleep and ability to focus and attention, the child will not be able to adequately fix new contents and nor evoke others already acquired
Childhood is an extremely important stage in the life cycle for learning new knowledge, as well as fixing others; as well, many of the processes of skills development and other psychic functions are acquired and solidified during this age group. When some disorder affects the integral neuropsychomotor evolution of the child, there may be a delay in learning, as for example in the case of childhood depression. This disease affects cognitive, affective, intellectual, reasoning, memory and psychomotor activities, causing the child to have evolutionary and interactive difficulties. Therefore, knowing this, that children are in a sensitive age group and that any mental disorder (for example, depression) can affect their neuropsychomotor development and learning process, it is essential for a society to take a careful look at this population, in order to minimize educational and social losses in the medium and long term.
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