DEPRESSION IN CHILDHOOD: A Survey of Some Pertinent Contributions

Abstract

It is my intention in this paper to examine some of the literature which bears upon the nature of in childhood, in that period of life between infancy and adolescence which includes neither. No new facts are presented, for this manuscript is based neither on empirical research nor clinical study. The essential lack of definition of is the focus of attention, if indeed such a disorder exists. In the interest of clarity, the term when used in unqualified form, refers to those behavioral manifestations, inferred or reported affects, and inferred dynamics to which the term is typically applied in adult psychopathology.' Hence, depression, as the term is used below, differs from depression only with respect to the age of occurrence. This convention is one of convenience and does not imply that such a childhood disorder has in fact been observed. A survey of the literature yields two indisputable facts. First, childhood and disorders which represent it or emulate it are rarely discussed. In a recent series of articles on in the In-