or loss of energy; 7) Feeling of worthlessness; excessive or inappropriate guilt; 8) Diminished ability to think, concentrate, or make decisions; 9) Recurrent thoughts of death or suicide, or a suicide plan or attempt (DSM IV as cited in Ingersoll, 1995, pp. 7-9).
Research is still being vigorously conducted into uncovering more precisely the causes of depression in children. At least a small proportion of children experience depression from organic causes. Theories proporting an "organic basis" to a percentage of cases involving depressed children contend that the symptoms of the disorder, regardless of its cause, are "rooted fundamentally in a person's chemical makeup" (Herskowitz, 1988, p. 162). Although parents are often relieved to hear that the source of their child's problems is chemically based, this cannot completely remove the possibility that parental behavior or misbehavior played "an important role in causing the depression of their child" (Herskowitz, 1988, p. 162). Further research is currently being conducted
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