4. Children's Emotional Response to Disaster

4.7. Depressive Disorders

Signs of depression such as sadness, hopelessness, and sleep disturbance are common manifestations after a catastrophic event. This is especially true when the return to normal routines and settings is delayed or impossible. Symptoms of depression can be temporary or chronic and may require intervention of medical and mental health professionals. Pediatricians and general practitioners who care for children exposed to disaster should identify the appearance and persistence of the following symptoms of depression:

  • Sleep disturbance: insomnia, hypersomnia, nightmares
  • Eating pattern disturbances: rejection of food or excessive feeding/eating
  • Feelings of hopelessness and helplessness
  • Feelings of frustration, irritability, restlessness, emotional outbursts.
  • Reduced or no interest in usual everyday activities, feelings of discouragement (despondency)
  • Reduced or no capacity for enjoyment of activities that were usually pleasant
  • Loss of interest in playing
  • Loss of interest in relating with peers
  • Loss of friends
  • Regressive behaviors (going back to earlier developmental stages)
  • Tendency towards withdrawal and annoyance
  • School performance problems 
  • Somatic symptoms since they are sometimes equivalent to depressive symptoms
    (e.g. headaches, stomachaches among the most frequent)
  • Suicidal thoughts or suicidal ideation in adolescents and older children, requiring immediate attention by mental health professionals.