Abstract
Childhood depression has had in the past, and still has many controversies, the first being whether it existed at all. Even now, child psychiatrists feel uncomfortable with the concept of depression in childhood and with this, the implication of misdiag-nosis. Pediatricians who have always used a medical model of illness have less difficulty with the existence of depression in children. Pediatricians in the recent past faced a similar predicament with the acknowledgment of the existence of child abuse. This diagnosis, like childhood depression, was missed for decades.
Parents, much more than doctors, often have trouble handling the thought that their child may be depressed, let alone suicidal. But then, parents have always had difficulty accepting any serious illness with their offspring, especially psychiatric illness. Clinically, the group who are the most honest, and most accurate in recognizing depressive behavior in themselves and others have been children. Children, rather than their parents give the best description of their feelings, especially in the affective disorders.