CHILD DEPRESSION IN BRAZIL - A LITERATURE REVIEW

Abstract

Childhood depression is a very prevalent mental health condition in today's society. Its debate began to become relevant in the 1960s and, although there is no doubt about its existence, the subject is still little discussed. This paper aims to demonstrate the relevance of the subject due to its high prevalence and underdiagnosis. A literature review on Childhood Depression in Brazil was carried out based on research in Pubmed, Scielo, and Google Scholar databases, between 1989 and 2020, in Portuguese and English, using the descriptors: “child depression”, “symptoms of depression” and “treatment of childhood depression” combined. Textbooks, data from Ministério da saúde, the World Health Organization (WHO), and key articles selected from citations in other articles were used to compose the paper. From the data analysis, twenty-two titles that are directly related to the current work were selected. In Brazil, girls and children between thirteen and fourteen years old are the most affected by the disease. The DSM does not differentiate it from adult depression, despite the atypical manifestations of its symptoms in children. Families still have great difficulty on identifying this disorder the biggest obstacle is understanding and accepting that behavioral changes can be part of a depressive condition. Normalizing the discussion of the topic is important so that there is more information about the disease and, consequently, more knowledge is disseminated both to the medical community and the families of affected children. This way, it will be possible to prevent its appearance and, when present, facilitate its detection, improving life quality of those involved and avoiding negative outcomes such as child suicide.