New research shows that it is important to be aware of depression and anxiety in preschoolers. Researchers designed a task to scare children where they were placed in a dimly lit room and revealed a realistic looking plastic snake. Each child was fixed with a monitor and their movements were observed during the task. The movements showed that children diagnosed with depression or anxiety turned further away from the perceived threat than those without a diagnosis. These sensors could identify children with depression or anxiety about 80% of the time. It is widely accepted that children as young as 3 can suffer from mental health disorders and the diagnosis remains difficult. It’s increasingly clear that these children are at risk of mental and physical health problems later in life.
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