Spoonful of Sugar

October 6, 2005 National Depression Screening Day® (NDSD), the first and largest nationwide, community-based mental health screening program, provides in-person and online screening for four of the most common and frequently co-occurring mental disorders: depression, bipolar disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. NDSD will call attention to mood and anxiety disorders on a national level. Children as young as 4 years of age are being dignosed with bipolar disorder, anxiety/depression, OCD, and "conduct disorder" (CD), a disorder during childhood or adolescence that involves defiant behavior, such as violating social rules or hurting other people, often associated with ADHD.

My parenting experience showed "hurting other people" particularly siblings was a skill to master. My sons methods of inflicting bodily pain on one another I'm sure would render them in need of tranquilizing. Maybe NDSD is searching for 4 year old children who attack total strangers. What does "violating social rules" mean? Etiquette? As when my son called another kid on the bus a dickhead all he needed was medication? It must be genetic as every one of mine made attempts at defiance and bending the rules.

The NMHA (National Mental Health Association) web site (supported by Eli Lily) has an online screening test, you can take anonymously. Answering 9 simple questions will tell you how depressed you are, or not.

Here are the key symptoms of depression:
A persistent sad, anxious or "empty" mood
Sleeping too little, early morning awakening, or sleeping too much
Reduced appetite and weight loss, or increased appetite and weight gain
Loss of interest or pleasure in activities once enjoyed
Restlessness or irritability
Difficulty concentrating, remembering or making decisions
Fatigue or loss of energy
Thoughts of death or suicide

I answered 5 in the positive range (sleeping too little, restless/irritable, erratic appetite, fatigue, thoughts of death, I'm not a spring chicken anymore) and scored as likely suffering from depression. My children excuse my symptoms as menopause, my grandchildren excuse it as Just Nana, and other family and friends claim I've always been an irritable restless bitch.

There are times when treatment is needed for mental illness but the industry today is not making a distinction between mental illness and the "shit happens" in life. Today the pharmacorporations in bed with medical PACs and government heads, tell us every bad day, every painful episode, anything seen as a negative and the emotional sequelae are a disorder to be alleviated through drug treatment. Life today is no more physically or emotionally difficult than it was for our ancestors but we like to think it's more complex and difficult. Try living as a slave, crossing the plains in a wagon, finding yourself on the battlefield in WWI sucking up mustard gas, sending your 8 y/o to work in a factory, then tell me we have it tougher.

The course is being set. A nation chemically dim-witted lest we feel any angst. Here comes the brave new mood. (But on the bright side, dispensing drugs soon and widely will make the War on Terror Forever more bearable.)