I can't comment on the clinical aspects of depression. I just know it can be medicinally controlled to some extent.
Otherwise, societal and cultural values (establishment) have always distanced young people looking for the freedom to be who they want to be, but don't know quite yet who they are in the overall scheme of life.
Push a kid (who doesn't know what he wants to do) to get a degree and see how quickly he withdraws into himself. Push him to get an education, job, relationship, commitment and/or any of the other responsibilities and tasks people burden themselves with, because they were also pushed to take them on, then understand why depression just might be his traveling companion.
I didn't do that with my sons. I'm pretty stable so I offer that to them as long as they need a place and time to figure out their own directions. Both got their degrees through their own sweat equity and are on paths that will give them the same stability I have. My one suggestion was to stay at their parent's home and get a head start on establishing and building their wealth for retirement.
The world has always been a pretty mad place to live but pre-internet kids have always been sheltered from it. With the state of the union and entire planet at one's fingertips it's no wonder a higher percentage of them withdraw early in life. The violence spread across the various continents pretty much stifles any romantic curiosity for expanding one's horizons.
The media's negative news reporting is pretty much a world slayer all by itself. In China, negative news cannot be over-played like it is in the so-called western countries, and it must be balanced (preferably off-set) with good news. Freedom of speech is only as beneficial as the intellect to use it to the betterment of all.
|