Help Me, I'm Sad: Recognizing, Treating, and Preventing Childhood and Adolescent Depression [Mass Market Paperback]

David G. Fassler (Author), Lynne Dumas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1998

Until the early 1980s, there was no official diagnosis for depression in children. But children can, and do, become depressed. In fact, the National Institute of Mental Health now estimates that 2.5 million youngsters under eighteen have experienced clinical depression--and the real number may be higher still. "Help Me, I'm Sad" discusses how to tell if your child is at risk; how to spot symptoms; depression's link with other problems and its impact on the family; teen suicide; finding the right diagnosis, therapist, and treatment; and what you can do to help. For parents who have--or suspect they may have--depressed children, here is practical, easy-to-understand information from a compassionate and trustworthy source.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics); 1 edition (October 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140267638
• ISBN-13: 978-0140267631
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,022,358 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A reassuring and thorough guide for parents and pros., October 28, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Help Me, I'm Sad: Recognizing, Treating, and Preventing Childhood and Adolescent Depression (Hardcover)

If you're the parent of a depressed child -- or think you might be -- this is a must-read. It's a reassuring, gentle but completely informative guide to all aspects of childhood depression. The part I liked best? How to get help for your child. It includes the best discussion of medications and other treatments I've ever read. This book makes an extremely sensitive, scary and complex subject easy to understand.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gotta Start Somewhere, November 16, 2001

By 

Rivkah Maccaby "Rivkah Maccaby" (Bloomington, IN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Help Me, I'm Sad: Recognizing, Treating, and Preventing Childhood and Adolescent Depression (Mass Market Paperback)

Although adult depression has been recognized for decades, childhood depression has only been considered since the 1980's. Previously, it was simply thought that children couldn't be depressed. Perhaps this is because (as is learned from this book) the lethargy and weepiness that adults and adolescents experience during depression, in children is often expressed as hostility. The depressed children may in fact be the troublemakers and the discipline problems.

This book reports on few case histories, but because only twenty years of research are behind this subject, that isn't surprising. Most of the descriptive text looks at the stages of childhood depression, and what to expect from various treatment options. The authors do suggest that while several stressful situations such as parental divorce, or placement in foster care can lead to childhood depression, in most cases, there will be no single, obvious, precipitating factor, and parents should not look for one.

More than once, the authors state that depression is not the fault of the parents, or the result of bad parenting. Of course, what are they going to say, if they want parents to buy their book? Parents don't want to be blamed. At any rate, if they are voluntarily looking for help, the family is probably at a point where placing blame will not solve anything, so the authors are undoubtedly correct in this approach. The problem is that this approach appears to slant the book toward physiological causes of depression almost to the exclusion of environmental factors.

Nonetheless, the information presented is readable, clear, and written in a soothing narrative voice. Just reading the book may give relief to parents who are concerned about a child.

The book neatly describes external symptoms of childhood depression, offering a great deal of help to parents and people who work with children in identifying children who may be depressed. Much of the book is given over to choosing a therapist. This is so thoroughly commendable, I don't know where to begin, because it is not uncommon for people to walk into a therapist's office, and immediately turn over all their power. This book will help families hold onto themselves until they are certain they have the right person, not just for the child but for the whole family.

I would recommend this book over most of the others addressing this topic.

4.0 out of 5 stars Informative, February 15, 2005

By 

Tiffany Showers "Sam, and Oliver's mom" (Louisville, KY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Help Me, I'm Sad: Recognizing, Treating, and Preventing Childhood and Adolescent Depression (Mass Market Paperback)

I found this book to be very informative and highly recommend it to anyone concerned with how "sad" or withdrawn their child is.