Genuine question (which I accept may be too personal to answer): what does depression in someone that young look like?

How is it different from the expected hormonal changes that an adolescent is expected to go through?

As someone who has been seriously depressed from an early age, I can tell you that it looks exactly like the DSM/ICD criteria - a lack of energy, loss of appetite, loss of interest in all activities, insomnia, feelings of worthlessness, suicidal thoughts and pervasive sadness and hopelessness.

Some people would rather believe that pediatric depression isn't real, rather than confront the reality of a loved and cared-for child who is constantly tearful, severely underweight, sleeps for three or four hours a night, spends most of their time staring into space and frequently talks about wanting to die.

Depression is an utterly dreadful illness and should not be confused with normal sadness or unhappiness.

Probably something like Boy Interrupted[0]. Sad story and something I can sympathize with having some of the same feelings very early on despite having a rather normal upbringing and siblings not showing signs of it.

0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_Interrupted

It's incredible that my last four comments are down voted to -1, for engaging in genuine dialog across topics.

@dang it's hard to believe that I'm not being brigaded.