Good overall book about depression with an excellent chapter on children and depression.

Help Me, I'm Sad: Recognizing, Treating, and Preventing Childhood and Adolescent Depression
by David G. Fassler, Lynne S. Dumas
Paperback - 224 pages (October 1998)

This is a very valuable book for families of depressed children, and I highly recommend it. It contains essential information, thoroughly and clearly covered. One section I particularly liked discussed the effect a depressed child has on family members and family dynamics.

"Help Me, I'm Sad" first addresses diagnosing depression in a child, including what I had never seen before: symptom lists specific to children at different stages of childhood, infants to teenagers. Companion illnesses that might indicate depression are also discussed as part of the diagnosis section.

The treatment section covers how to find effective treatment, whether therapy, medication or both, including questions to ask a potential therapist. The last section, on preventing depression, contains suggestions on how to raise an emotionally resilient child. All in all, a complete, compassionate resource for parents and others who have a depressed child in their lives.

Lonely, Sad and Angry: A Parent's Guide to Depression in Children and Adolescents
by Barbara D. Ingersoll
Paperback (April 2001)

Is It "Just a Phase"?: How to Tell Common Childhood Phases from More Serious Problems
by Henrietta L. Leonard, Susan Anderson Swedo
Paperback - 368 pages (October 1999)

Growing Up Sad: Childhood Depression and Its Treatment
by Leo Cytryn, Donald H. McKnew, Jerry M. Wiener
Paperback - 218 pages (August 1998)

The Bipolar Child: The Definitive and Reassuring Guide to Childhood's Most Misunderstood Disorder (Revised and Expanded)
by Demitri F. Papolos, Janice Papolos
Hardcover (September 2002)

No One Saw My Pain: Why Teens Kill Themselves
by Andrew E. Slaby
Paperback (February 1996)

Straight Talk About Psychiatric Medication for Kids
by Timothy E. Wilens
Paperback - 280 pages (November 1998)

The story of Danielle Steel's son Nick, who was bipolar.

Driven to Distraction: Recognizing and Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder from Childhood Through Adulthood
by Edward M. Hallowell, John J. Ratey
Paperback - 319 pages (March 1995)

I have recently been diagnosed with ADD, and this book was recommended to me as a good starting point.

Cutting: Understanding and Overcoming Self-Mutilation
by Steven Levenkron
Paperback - 269 pages (May 1999)

The Anxiety Disease
by David V. Sheehan
Paperback (June 1986)

An excellent book about panic attacks which approaches the disease from a biological perspective. Sheehan covers the seven progressive stages of the disease, causes, treatment and recovery, using case histories as examples. The book also contains an anxiety scale to help you determine whether the level of your anxiety is excessive.

The Boy Who Couldn't Stop Washing: The Experience and Treatment of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
by Judith L. Rapoport
Paperback (July 1997)

Everything in Its Place: My Trials and Triumphs with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
by Marc Summers
Paperback (October 2000)