“I fear my
five-year-old son has inherited my depression” (By Annalisa Barbieri), The
Guardian, 11 October 2013, 15.00 BST.
This
article treats about a mother that has sent an email to Annalisa Barbieri
asking about something that’s happening with her five-year-old son.
The mother
tells Annalisa by the email that she had mental-health issues since she was 14
years old, including anorexia, bulimia and depression. And that now she’s
worried about her son, because he’s a very emotional and sensitive kid that
gets upset easily. She thinks that maybe he has inherited her mental issues.
After that she asks what would be the best for her son.
Responding
to the email, Annalisa tells to the mother that depression is a multi-factorial
disease, so her son has the same possibilities of having depression in the
future because of external causes or because of genetic causes.
Dr. John
Morgan gives a response to the email too, and he asserts that children can give
some signs of later predisposition to depression, but that what he sees in her son
is that he is a sensitive and emotional kid only, and also that these
characteristics can be channeled in the correct direction to help him to having
a happy life.
The doctor
also says that she wouldn’t medicalise her son, and she would not tell about
what’s happening with him to his teacher or counselor. That she may not fear
that because she had mental-health problems when she was younger, means that
her son will have it too. What she has to do is communicate to him that he
needs correction in some things, but giving him the space to talk and express
his emotions.
wow!...interesting article!
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