Perspective on Depression in the Teenage Wasteland

Headline: One in 12 U.S. teens report suffering from depression "Half of the 2.1 million teens noted in the survey as depressed said their condition had seriously interfered with their ability to cope and operate normally in their daily lives." When does depression not exist? When you know who you are and why you are here. This is exactly the struggle a teenager must undergo on the way to adulthood. In much of western culture, unfortunately, the rites of passage are watered down to mere traditional rituals devoid of any real impact on self-identity. What in life holds real value? Is it cheap plastic toys and video games from China, or is there deeper meaning to our existence on planet earth? I would hazard a guess that there are more depressed adults than teenagers, simply because adults have had a longer time to figure out that they do not know who they are or why they are here. So as more adults turn to SSRI medication, what are we to do with the children?

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Terry Cline said that "Appropriate mental health care can help their child recover and thrive."

What is appropriate? If there are any psychiatric conflicts of interest, you can be sure that "appropriate" equals drugs. Of course, the drugs take us further away from who we are and why we are here.

Sometimes looking at a problem from a different angle provides perspective that cannot be gotten in any other way. What is it that actually works against us determining our identity and reason for being? It's the Big "G" again. The more certain of who you are and why you are here, the less likely you are to depend upon government for anything. It is the necessity of every government to limit the consciousness of its citizens in order to grow unabated.

Therefore, if self awareness is your goal, perhaps declaring your independence from that which desires to keep you unaware needs some consideration. The same plethora of worthless choices available to us because of our over-emphasis on crass materialism are the same choices that allow for the greatest leaps in learning about ourselves and the reason we are here.