DEVELOPMENTAL-APPROACH TO DEPRESSION IN CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE

This paper has attempted to consider childhood depressive states from a developmental point of view. States of dysphoria can be observed from birth but experiences which are similar to adult forms of depression necessitate certain cognitive abilities. Some psychologically painful states precede the experience of depression, and share some characteristics with this later experiential phenomenon but are not equal to it. Rather at each stage of ontogeny, some characteristics of dysphoric states are added with the gradual maturation of the child as a total organism, culminating in the ability to experience depression in its adult form. It is hoped that the use of a developmental framework as a theoretical basis may ultimately help in clarifying and ordering the depressive-like experiences of childhood.