i have a 12/f who has been depressed for the last 8 VF years...Any idea how to get her out of it?

The quickest fix I personally found was giving them candy or fruit from the store - it's like praising them but only stronger. But whatever she does when you give her the candy, she will likely be doing more often.

Other than praising (green hand will help), I found that picking up collectables helped a lot over the long run.

If some parent has a promotion or there's a new baby in the house, it should help her happiness too.

But happiness will go up slowly. Give it some time, it will get better as time goes by - of course you have to make sure there's enough food in the fridge and she has no underlying illness (if she has been sick a lot, consult a doctor). Keeping the house tidy and the lawn free of weeds (as much as possible) is also a must.

Hope that helps, that seems to work for me anyways.

In addition, don't forget that family time is important to a child. So dropping a parent on her (tickling and story-telling), watching DVDs together, and storybook-time are also great ways to raise up a child's happiness.

I discovered that if I have a despressed/a bit blue child, I keep putting them on "playing in the sand", with 2 taps of the green glove & then "playing with toys" & 2 taps with green glove. Keep switching them out over & over & eventually the child will get happy & keep going & they will be elated. I suppose you could use other activities as well, but these are very close to each other on the map & easy to switch back & forth from. Just remember to give 2 pats w/green glove each time. 1 takes much longer & more than 2 makes them run away.

I wouldn't encourage this because they'll be more playful and eventually when you do want them to do chores or work on their career, they'll get grumpy or stop halfway to play video games or watch tv.
I think family interaction, particularly among siblings, do make them happier.

Praise them when they pick up a collectable.

And again when they sell it online

You can also praise them for showering or doing the dishes...I praise them for peeking at the groceries if they need some happiness