DEPRESSION IN CHILDHOOD : A STUDY IN SPECIALIZED CENTER OF ANÁPOLIS

Introduction and Objectives Childhood depression has been regarded as permanent and pervasive, affecting a lot of functions and causing significant psychosocial damage. As soon the condition appears, the damage tends to be higher. It is estimated that children and adolescents affected by depression have a huge risk of recurrence to adulthood. It is important to highlight the need for special attention of the people who live with children such as teachers and parents. They should remain vigilant to any manifestation that can reach out to the diagnosis of childhood depression. This study aimed to identify and characterize the incidence and prevalence of childhood depression on Psychosocial Child Support Center (CAPSi) Anapolis-GO. Methods Observational and descriptive research was used in an epidemic where the information evaluated were collected from medical records allowing retrospective evaluation of patient history in CAPSi. Results and Conclusion From the data analysis it was found that the diagnosis of depressive episode is most common in adolescence than in childhood, females were slightly more common with depressive episode. Most patients had no clinical comorbidities, but the most prevalent diseases were headache and migraine. The main psychiatric comorbidities were Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Most cases of suicide attempts have occurred with patients older than 14 years. Clearly, studies of depression in this age group are scarce in Brazil and abroad, in addition, the mental health of children and adolescents in Brazil has become a matter of public health recently requiring further study.