Almost 80,000 children are suffering from depression warns NHS

The NHS (National Health Service) has warned that almost 80,000 children in the UK are suffering from depression, with 8,000 of those aged ten and under.

According to dailymail.co.uk, children as young as five are showing signs of the mental illness and Nice (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) has laid out new guidelines which say that children with depression must be offered more support.

Support can be given in many ways, one way to aid a child with their depression is to put them on a counselling course, which can help them get to the root of their problems.

Depression in children is on the rise and experts believe that this is due to a number of factors that are making childhood increasingly stressful for the young. For example, cyber-bullying, school exams, pressures from social media and an increase in divorce are all adding to childhood stress, reports telegraph.co.uk.

Lucie Russell, director of campaigns for charity Young Minds, said that modern childhood is very stressful and such stress is leading to depression.

"It used to be the case that while some children might have a hard time at school, they could go home and switch off," she said. "Now there isn't that escape, children are on devices all the time."