Can a child with ADHD develop a depression as well?

Yes, kids and adults as well are more prone to suffer from depression if they are already suffering from ADHD. It is said that adolescents who are suffering from ADHD are 10 times more likely to develop depression than those who are not suffering from ADHD.

If this friend of yours is suspecting that his kid might be suffering from depression, he should probably take him to a doctor or to a child's psychologist. It is very important to treat depression in their early ages, otherwise it can leave a huge mark on them and cause them problems when they grow up.

Kids with ADHD are indeed more prone to depression than other people are. This is why your friend should pay extra attention to his kid in order to keep him safe. I do know that drugs that are used to treat ADHD can contribute to the development of depression so I think that your friend should avoid giving his kid any kind of medications for ADHD. There have to be some natural remedies for this matter, he can ask his kid's doctor. His kid should also start seeing a psychologist I suppose, it is a normal procedure for people with mood disorders.

I called him today and told him what you guys wrote here. He said that he is suspecting that his kid is suffering from depression because of some symptoms that he noticed in the past month, he didn't tell me which ones were these. I told him what you told me, that he shouldn't make these conclusions on his own and that he should take his kid to a child's psychologist but he told me that his kid is way too young to be seeing a psychologist and that you are wrong about that. I guess everything else is now up to him.

It is up to him but if you think that you would be able to help him in any way, then you should go ahead and do it. Because, like I said before, it is very important to treat this kid if he is really suffering from depression because this could leave a pretty big mark and mess with him during his adult life. I know this because I had some problems when I was a kid and it was messing with me while I grew older, I had to start seeing a psychologist in order to get better, and it took me a while to get better actually.

Hello there. Sure it can. According to some researches it shows that 2 from 3 kids who are diagnosed with ADHD - which is a neurological problem indeed, well those kids also have a mental health diagnosis and because of this they can develop a depression as well. Kids who are stressed as well are in that possibility to develop depression more than any other kids. This is more complicated, of course. Anyway, it is very important to recognize that in kids. If your kid is diagnosed with ADHD you should observe him or her very well because there is a huge chance for depression, unfortunately.

Sure that it is possible and there are several reasons for this. You don't have to be that smart to understand that. You see, many kids and teens who are diagnosed with ADHD usually have a lack of emotional intelligence skills. They usually have those attacks of frustration, anger, shame, and there it comes those depressed feelings as well. That usually happens when they are in the school.

This all can lead to depression as well, so there is that connection between ADHD and depression. Combination of those two diagnoses can result in really huge social difficulties in kids. It should be treated. 

I totally agree with you Hannah. A teen boy from my neighborhood had really hard time in his school and he started to be frustrated. His parents were not able to recognize him at all. My point is that, if a child with ADHD does develop depression, like this boy was, treatments that target the depressive symptoms specifically need to be implemented and also treatment should never be avoided. NOT EVER. If you have concerns about depression in your child, you should definitely seek for mental health professional, that is one thing that is strongly recommended. Never leave it untreated, never!

You are totally right. But you should also have one thing in your mind - child depression is totally different than "regular" depression. Also, when this depression is developed after ADHD than this is even harder to treat. 

But generally, like for every other issue, you should definitely look at the symptoms that may occur to the kid. There are several symptoms in kids with ADHD that you should pay attention at. Some of those symptoms are:

- constant sadness,

- different eating habits than usual,

- loss of interest for everything,

- it is really serious if kid is talking about suicide.

 

Have those symptoms on your mind!