Georgina Jarvis, counselling psychologist intern at the St. Michael School
Parents of students attending the St. Michael School were given the opportunity to receive information from a trained professional on how to spot when and if their child suffers from depression.
Faye Wharton-Parris, president of the Parent-Teacher Association at the institution told parents on Thursday evening during the PTA that following the death of one of the teachers at the school, she realised that students proclaimed to be doing okay with the death but realised they were suffering on the inside. She mentioned that following her visit to the classrooms with a trained professional, she wondered whether or not parents were aware of the pain that the students were going through because they were close to said teacher.
“The depth of sadness and emotion that I saw that day had me thinking that the parents who do not know what their children are feeling are clearly at a disadvantage,” she said.
Wharton-Parris explained that parents are the ones that will give up their lives for their children and do anything possible to help them, but if they are unaware of the help that their children need, then they are clearly at a disadvantage.
Georgina Jarvis, who is interning at the institution as a counselling psychologist mentioned that there are six different depression disorders. Disruptive dysregulation disorder normally occurs in children up to the age of 12 who experience extreme behavioural disorders. Jarvis said that this condition does not always go away once the child reaches the age of 12, rather, it sometimes morphs into one of the other depressive disorders.
She went on to explain that major depression disorder is another depressive state, where the episode of depression continues for a period of two weeks, this sometimes recurs every few weeks and explained that persistent depression disorder persists for a full year and is usually brought about by the loss of a parent through separation or death.
Jarvis said that the fourth depressive state, premenstrual disorder should not be confused with PMS as it is a pretty intense depressive episode that occurs during ovulation every month and lasts for a few days. The other two depressive disorders are usually as a result of alcohol or prescribed drugs use and a medical condition.
The trained professional said that there are some differences in each of these disorders but there are also running similarities of feeling sad, empty, irritable, tired, restless or an inability to concentrate. She advised that if you realise that your child may be suffering from one of the depressive disorders that it would be wise to take them to a professional.
“This criterion is not complete but its enough to give you a sense that something may be wrong with your child and its time to seek professional help,” she said. (CLF)