Demographics & Depression

by David P. Goldman

Three generations of economists immersed themselves in study of the Great Depression, determined to prevent a recurrence of the awful events of the 1930s. And as our current financial crisis began to unfold in 2008, policymakers did everything that those economists prescribed. Following John Maynard Keynes, President Bush and President Obama each offered a fiscal stimulus. The Federal Reserve maintained confidence in the financial system, increased the money supply, and lowered interest rates. The major industrial nations worked together, rather than at cross purposes as they had in the early 1930s.

http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=6564

Teen media exposure linked with depression later

by Carolyn Moynihan

Over-exposure to television and other electronic media during the teenage years may contribute to depression in young adulthood, especially amongst young men, according to a report in the February issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry. Depression commonly begins in adolescence or young adulthood, and many factors have been identified, including genetic inheritance, temperament and parenting styles. Media exposure is another prime suspect as teens spend on average eight and a half hours a day with electronic screens and gadgets.

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Unprotected

My review of Unprotected the new book by a UCLA psychiatrist is here on Mercator Net. Money quotes:

The author recounts the evidence that sexually active teenage girls are
about three times more likely to be depressed and to have attempted suicide than girls who were not sexually active. ...This refusal to face inconvenient facts cries out for explanation. One of the author's patients asked her, “Why, Doctor, do they tell you how to protect your body from herpes and pregnancy, but they don’t tell you what it does to your heart?”

Why indeed? Read it all here, or subscribe to my newsletter and get the whole thing in your in-box on Monday.