Kelly G L
Division of Child and Family Psychiatry, University of Virginia Health Sciences Center, Charlottesville.
Nurs Clin North Am. 1991 Sep;26(3):545-58.
Recent years have witnessed accumulating evidence that the disorders subsumed under the heading of childhood depression are much more prevalent than used to be believed; that these conditions in prepubertal youngsters are more similar to those disorders occurring in adolescents and adults than was previously believed; that childhood depression can co-exist with many other childhood conditions; and that, although a rare occurrence, suicide is committed by older children. To quote a professional in the child mental health field: It is difficult to see how depression could not be involved in almost every form of psychopathology. The various theories of personality speculate on the existence of unhappy and depressing feelings and cognitions at the core of human development, with ineffective means of dealing with these concerns expressed by abnormalities. . . . Thus it becomes reasonable to argue that depression is everywhere in childhood and adulthood and hence we must be careful to specify under what conditions it is to be regarded as pathological.
近年来，越来越多的证据表明，归类于儿童抑郁症名下的各种障碍比以往认为的更为普遍；青春期前儿童的这些病症与青少年及成年人中出现的那些障碍比以前认为的更为相似；儿童抑郁症可能与许多其他儿童病症同时存在；而且，尽管很少见，但大龄儿童也会自杀。引用儿童心理健康领域的一位专业人士的话说：很难想象抑郁症怎么可能不涉及几乎每一种心理病理学形式。各种人格理论推测，在人类发展的核心存在着不愉快和压抑的情感及认知，而处理这些问题的无效方式则表现为异常……因此，有理由认为抑郁症在儿童期和成年期无处不在，所以我们必须谨慎确定在何种情况下它应被视为病理性的。
