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Thursday, March 24, 2011

Nature vs. Nurture: Baby I'm scared

     Is it possible that the little tiny bundle of joy you are holding in your arms could be suffering from depression? Is it possible that the fit throwing and leg hugging that goes on when you drop your toddler off at pre-school is social-anxiety and not the huge embarassing act caused by "the terrible two's"? According to the article "Smal Child, Big Worries" in the March 21,2011 edition of TIME MAGAZINE, it may just be that your darling baby is depressed.
    The continuous debate on nature vs. nurture has crossed most peoples lips at one point or another in a conversation or debate. It states in this article that children raised in orphanages or abusive households have enlarged amygdala, the amygdala governs fear and alarm emotions in humans and therefore, would imply that the child has more worries or fears than what you would think a child would have. "Genes do play a role, paricularly in depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder, which have high degrees of heritability. But experiences matter in myriad ways. Babies living with depressed mothers, for example, have poorer exploratory skill and flatter affects than other kids.....". (Kluger, 39) I have often wondered if the child that is in the corner playing by himself or the little girl that screams like a she bat when you talk to her, had some kind of emotional issues or if their parents did, to let them act out in that way. Maybe this is my answer.
                                                                       
works cited

Kluger, Jeffrey. "Small Child, Big Worries." Time 21 March 2011: 38-39. Print.