Interviewers' notes about section H: Depression

Just as in adults, depression in children and teenagers usually shows itself as severe and prolonged misery. Sometimes, though, the most obvious change in mood is not misery but increased irritability. This can be very tricky to judge since plenty of teenagers are irritable with their family! You need to focus on whether they have recently changed to being a lot more grumpy or irritable than in the past. In some cases, the most obvious clue to depression is neither misery nor irritability but a loss of interest in the things that the child used to enjoy doing. Perhaps the child has kept his or her misery secret, but the family may still have noticed that the child suddenly no longer wants to visit friends, go on outings, listen to music, or whatever.

There are three initial parts to section H:

Feeling sad or miserable

Feeling irritable

Loss of interest

If there are real problems in any of these areas, you will need to ask question H18 to H21. Because question H18 covers deliberate self-harm, you won�t need to ask the separate questions on the same topic in questions H22 to H24.

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Last modified : 05/09/09