The third grade daughter of a friend of mine had a hurting heart.  Childhood depression isn’t always obvious, but this little girl was very introverted, always looked ragged, and was unaffectionate and disconnected from her mother.  In fact, she would hiss at her if she tried to hug her.  Childhood depression is hard to treat because eight is too young to experiment with medication, and generally, children aren’t self-aware enough to get a lot out of counseling.  But children have one advantage over adults, and that is that they are still connected to their youngest selves. Adults can have a difficult time accessing their inner child, but an eight year…