> Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
>This really has me thinking. I have noticed that
>he has seemed down sometimes and like you said
>there would be no external cause for it. Once
>when I asked him about it he admitted that he
>was sad but didn't know why he was. If you
>don't mind answering this....Did YOU realize
>back then that you where sad/depressed before
>you went to the psyciatrist?
>

No, I had no idea. I was 12 or 13 or something, all I knew was this was basically how things always had been. For me, I think puberty really added the the issue and made it much more acute, but I think it was always there. The thing about being clinically depressed is that you don't know what the difference is until you get help for it.

That being said, there are symptoms you can look for in your son. I don't know them off the top of my head, but your family doctor should be able to help, and if s/he can't or wont prescribe an anti-depressent directly if there *is* a problem, s/he should be able to at least direct you to a psychiatrist who can/will. I know my doctor at the time directed me to a psychiatrist for the initial diagnosis, and then after he'd refill my presription for me so I didn't have to go see that weirdo anymore. A good psychiatrist can be very helpful. A bad one is just a needless expence--I'm not kidding when I say that all this guy ever did was talk to me about his Israel vacations. Either one can prescribe drugs however. In my case, I got a bad psychiatrist, but it turned out I did need the drugs, so as soon as I got those I got the heck away from that guy. Hopefully you'll be more lucky if it comes to that. I'm personally wary of psychiatrists because of my experience, but I am thankful I went. I had already basically been diagnosed as clinically depressed before I went, by both my family doctor and a psychologist that I had seen for a bit. So I'd definitely start with your family doctor and work from there.

-- Dave