EFN

Although there have been numerous studies in recent years that have shown toddlers, as well as babies, can suffer from major depressive disorder, medical professionals have argued whether preschool depression was a phase in a child’s development or a sign of future problems.

A new study out of Washington University is the first to prove that major depression can be chronic even in children as young as 3. That means the trouble could persist, just as it does for older kids as well as adults.

“Our study is the first available, to our knowledge, to follow-up and describe the 2-year course of preschool major depressive disorder in a large systematically assessed sample,” noted Joan Luby, M.D. and her colleagues at the Washington University School of Medicine.

The research team followed approximately 200 preschoolers for up to two years, including 75 diagnosed with major depression.

Every child had up to four mental health tests during the two-year period of the study. What they found was that 64 percent of the kids were either still depressed or had a repeated episode of depression six months into the study. Forty percent still had problems after two years, and almost 20 percent still had problems after all four tests.

Depression was seen more often in kids whose mothers were also depressed or had other mental disorders, and among those who had went through a traumatic event, for example the death of a parent or physical or mental abuse.

Earlier studies indicated that depression affects approximately 2 percent of American. preschoolers, or about 160,000 kids, at one time or another. However, it was unclear whether depression in preschoolers could be chronic, as it can be in older children and adults.