Depression strikes many Maine youths

The data itself is depressing. More Maine children ages 6 to 12 were hospitalized for depressive disorders in 2002 than for appendicitis and asthma combined. And this is in a state noted for high rates of asthma affliction among youngsters.

The Maine Children’s Alliance recently released its Kids Count Data Book, which showed hospitalization for mental health and substance abuse diagnoses for youth increased 13 percent between 2001 and 2002 – from 2,203 to 2,491. The survey reported depression and related mood disorders continued to be the primary reason the children were hospitalized.

While pointing out the disturbing trend, director of Maine Kids Count Lynn Davey linked the data to a fragile economic climate in Maine, which she says doesn’t bode well for the health and well-being of the state’s youngest residents.

“More than any other single factor, family economic security predicts children’s school readiness, school achievement, and general physical and mental health,” psychologist Davey was quoted as saying after the data book was released last month.

Although the number of Maine children living in poverty has declined, there are increasing numbers of children living in low-income families where parents work year-round but don’t earn sufficient wages to pay for basic needs.

Last November, a report showed 60 percent of Maine’s poor work. A study completed jointly by the Maine Community Action Association and the Margaret Chase Smith Center for Public Policy found that the number of working poor in Maine is nearly 10 percentage points higher than the national average of 52 percent. The report cited those people with low-skill, low-wage service jobs – many making less than $15,000 for a family of four – and found that of the indigent households, 22 percent are headed by mothers.

The Maine Children’s Alliance believes the economy plays a major role in the statistics on childhood depression.

We can’t argue with that conclusion, but would suggest other factors that may indeed contribute to depressive disorders in children – one, the fact that they spend far too much time inside than out.

Every physician, especially pediatricians, stress exercise and activity for fitness of body and mind. Yet, this winter did we see youngsters skating on the pond down the road as they did in other days when money was equally tight and times were tough?

In those days, boys and girls had chores instead of computer games. They didn’t stare into a television set, but raced outside anytime they could to sled down the hills or build a fire of tires on the ice of the winding millstream.

In summertime, they swam in the chilly harbors and flew kites in open fields; they fished from the dock and raced skiffs for hours. They picked berries, they roller skated, they rode bikes, they sat in neighbors’ kitchens and devoured platefuls of fried doughnuts. They just had too much to do – work and play – for boredom.

Or for brooding.