Our mood can be affected by lots of different things, and it is normal for children and young people to feel their mood change in response to events in their lives. This is particularly the case for children and young people with a health condition, or who have experienced a serious illness or injury.
Often children will feel down when things are not going well for them, or as a result of issues such as a new diagnosis, an unexpected, scary event, parental separation, stress at school, or falling out with friends.
There will be times when a young person’s mood is low for a prolonged period of time, such as every day for several weeks or months. Often this coincides with being unable to feel happy or excited about the usual things in their lives. They may feel they want to cry more often, feel numb, lack motivation to do the usual things, or not want to be around other people as much.
This is commonly referred to as low mood or depression, and is experienced by around 3% of children under 13 years old, and around 6% for 13 to 18 year olds. This can range from mild to more severe low mood and depression.
