Depression in children and adolescents and suicide prevention

Djeca i mladi suočavaju se sa brojnim i intenzivnim promjenama u svom životu te su izloženi rizičnim faktorima koji dovode do razvoja različitih poremećaja od kojih velik problem predstavlja depresija. Depresija i suicid pripadaju u najznačajnije probleme u svijetu, te se smatra da će do 2020. godine depresija biti druga vodeća bolest. Cilj ovog rada je prikazati utjecaj depresije na djecu i mlade te kako dolazi do nje. Također, cilj rada je prikazati i kvalitetu života oboljelih od depresije i koja je uloga socijalnih radnika u tome, odnosno na koji način mogu pridonijeti poboljšanju te kvalitete. Obzirom na to da je velik broj oboljelih od depresije u riziku od suicida, u radu će se prikazati rizični faktori koji dovode do suicidalnih ponašanja te na koje načine se može prevenirati kako bi se količina izvršenih suicida smanjila na što manji mogući broj, s naglaskom na ulogu socijalnih radnika u toj prevenciji.Children and adolescents are faced with numerous and intense changes in their lives and they are exposed to many risk factors which cause development of different disorders. Depression is one of them, and it represents a big problem. Depression and suicide are one of the most important problems in the world, and it is considered that by 2020 depression will be the second leading disease. The object of this paper is to show the impact of depression on children and adolescents and what the cause of depression is. Also, the object of this work is to show the quality of depression patients’ lives and the role of social workers, i.e., how social workers can contribute to improving the quality of their lives. Considering that a lot of people with depression are in a risk of suicide, in this paper risk factors, that bring to suicidal behavior, are going to be represented and also, in which ways suicide could be prevented so that the quantity of committed suicides could be reduced as much as possible, with focus on the role of social workers in that prevention