“How can Preschoolers be depressed?”
What could possibly be depressing about having zero responsibilities on Earth? Basically, every need you could possibly have has already been met. Did your preschool not have enough play dough? Did the wooden blocks used to make fictional cites not appear realistic to you? Are Legos just some giant Danish scam meant to drain parents’ wallets and destroy vacuum cleaners?
I wonder whether this is just another ploy to drug up kids earlier, to prevent them from thinking for themselves. Any basic interaction with their surroundings can now be muted by a few simple drugs, allowing them to become perfect little kids. Huxley might have been right; perhaps we are on our way to drugging ourselves (with pharmaceuticals) into some sort of stupor, unable to realize that the world is dramatically changing around us, by people more cognizant than ourselves.
The article discusses ways you can tell whether your child has a “depressive episode”. Lately The Times has been going further and further into childhood, from twenty-somethings to kindergartners to now preschoolers. What is next; will we hear about embryos hanging out in the womb, not contributing to our society enough? Should embryos create “hypnagogic pop” to wax nostalgic about how their life was before it existed?
Depression seems to affect everyone, according to the article. Depression can be caused by environmental stimuli or genetic factors. That makes sense, but worrying about it means that it has the potential to be abused. Look at how much anti-depressants have invaded our lives; it feels like we’re constantly medicating ourselves into feeling better, rather than doing something a bit less dramatic. How about making a cabinet, fixing something in your home, writing, making music, biking, swimming, watching TV, reading a book, breeding hamsters, designing cover art for mix CDs, performing your one-act play about the life of General Custer? Essentially, it seems by not keeping ourselves busy with some creative outlet, we’re just dooming ourselves to crippling depression.
Maybe instead of subjecting your children to interviews with puppets, maybe there’s another solution. Instead, try communicating with them, exposing them to cool bands you liked before you became a cool mom or dad. I do not doubt that some preschoolers may exhibit traits of depression, but depression in general seems to be something the US gets overly fixated on compared to other countries. I mean, look at Franz Kafka. He worked at various boring office jobs but still found fulfillment despite having such a deranged sense of humor.
The New York Times may have been speaking about preschoolers, but they might have been talking about everyone regarding depression. Doctors who worry about a possible over-diagnosis of depression may want to think about the fact that perhaps many who claim to suffer from depression simply need to find their muse.