Think a baby is too young to be depressed? Think a again. A new study out of the University of Montreal in Quebec suggests a strong link between depression in mothers and anxiety and depression in infants and toddlers:
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The longitudinal study of 1759 children, ranging in age from 5 months to 5 years, found that 15% of study participants had unduly high symptoms of depression and anxiety and that these children were more likely to have mothers with a history of depression. The study also found that difficult temperament at 5 months was the most important predictor of depression and anxiety in children.
"As early as the first year of life, there are indications that some children have more risks than others of developing high levels of depression and anxiety. We also found that these symptoms increase in frequency during the first 5 years of life," one of the authors, Sylvana Côté, PhD, from the Université de Montréal in Quebec, told Medscape Psychiatry.
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But I remember the studies of children who live in high anxiety homes are more alert and aware with coping in high stress situations due to adjusting to surroundings. While more secure children grew up to be more...lax...reckless isn't the word. I forgot what that study was called.
You know, back in the '60s and '70s if you went to jail for selling drugs to children you would be dead within 2 weeks. Proving that criminals back then had more brans than these psychiatrists!