Our mood can be affected by lots of different things, and it’s normal to feel your mood change in response to different events in your life.
Mood issues are also really common if you have a specific health condition, have spent time in hospital, or have experienced a serious illness or injury. You can feel down when things are not going well, because of a new medical diagnosis, after an unexpected, scary event, due to a separation from or loss of loved ones, because of exam stress at school, being bullied, or falling out with friends. Sometimes the pressure of keeping up with others, or comparing ourselves to others on social media, can negatively impact how we feel about ourselves too.
Hopefully these dips in mood don’t last long. However, it may be that your mood has been low for a long time, e.g. every day for several weeks or months. This might coincide with being unable to feel happy or excited about things, such as a holiday or a party. You might feel that you want to cry more often or feel numb or without any emotions. You might lack the ‘get up and go’ to do the usual things, or just not want to be around other people. Sometimes when your mood is very low you may think about not wanting to be here anymore.
This longer lasting feeling is commonly referred to as low mood or depression. We think about 3% of children under 13 years old, and around 6% of teenagers (13 to 18 year olds) experience depression, which can range from mild to severe.
