Depression... in babies?!

Apparently, symptoms of depression have been observed in babies as young as six months.

These include:

-> Lack of interaction with others.
-> Staring/averted gaze or sad facial expressions.
-> Lack of interst in their environment.
-> Slow movements.
-> Sleeping and eating problems.

etc.

If these persevere for longer than three months and no physical reason can be found, then it could be depression (diagnosed via a psychological assessment. How you psychologically assess a baby is beyond me- but then what the hell do I know about psychology?).

A baby is more likely to present with these symptoms if they have a depressive mother- this could be because of genetic or environmental factors.

Dr. Shatkin (director of education and training at New York University's Child Study Centre) estimates this figure to be about 1 in 6 babies.



Ok. Whoa. I know that there are genes which make depression more likely- but for the illness to present in an infant not even a year old? Wow. I always associated depression with maturity, for some reason. Maybe because so many artists and intelligent figures had depression at some at point; depression has stemmed so many stunning pieces of work.

Some people who had depression:
-> William Blake.
-> Charles Beaudelaire.
-> Woody Allen.
-> Agatha Christie.
-> Beyoncé.

and many more great people.

Buuuut, science does not know its debt to imagination. The more we know, the more we can do to counter it.

Anywy, let's have some pictures of happy babies to even this horrible news out:















Awwww! :)