If someone asked me to write down at least three people who I consider depressed, I would do it in a heart beat - far, closer, very close. And we all know booming practices of psychologists/psychiatrists, in Kenya no less...

But when I think back to when I was growing up, I knew very few people who were mad (not depressed). Where has this depression in the 21st century come from and why so many bright young children affected?

or is it something wrong this generation of parents are doing or bembelezaing the mayais too much? we turn out Ok yet we were lucky to even get a square meal as we were growing up

I think it was abit differnt... we never used to have or required to do so much in school... with tuition and all ...... and the many exams all the time.... aaaih!

Like 2012 says the pressure is just too much. I shudder at the thought of raising a child in Nairobi today. I used to live at a maisonette complex about half an acre in size and I daily pitied the neighbours child who was confined to this space for days on end alone by the high walls and the steel gate. He had a bike alright but he could only ride it in circles round the small parking space. Why would this kid not be depressed?! In fact it would be abnormal for him to be normal.

I remember when growing up you said things like 'when I grow up I want to be a pilot.' You picked something that was far away and exotic. You had never seen a aeroplane up close neither had you ever met a pilot nor had anyone you knew ever met one. Though you said it, you did not necessarily have to do anything other than "soma kwa nguvu" to become one or whatever else you wanted to become the next day, for it was the nature of these ambitions to change from day to day. In reality as far as I can remember I never had any real ambition. I was never working towards being something or somebody. I just passed time one day at a time. I lived in the present and that is all that counted.

Your parents and teachers though they used the rod on your body left you free in the one place where you could be truly so, your mind. You thought about Mandazi and the teachers caning and eating mufefe and ojwala and chobo and all the "important" things that you fancied. Todays child especially one growing up in a middle class family in Nairobi, is neither free in body, nor in mind nor in spirit. His parents know too much about the perils of a poor education and the dangerous world out there. They are anxious to warn their children of all the open holes they could fall into if they do not study hard or be careful about a million and one things. In a much simpler world children learnt what was dangerous by doing it and experiencing the consequences. The effect is the child is filled with fear of the world and the future. The city is not a safe place for children to play and roam about. The TV and the neighbours are always talking of dreadful things. How can this child not be depressed?? They live in harder times. Wahurumieni jameni.

@all very informative, though not encouraging. The comments are logical but actually going through it in a family - child, sibling, parent - is another thing altogether.

That being said, in my limited experience, I have to wonder whether it becomes worse when patient acknowledges - I'm depressed. These diseases of the mind, at a certain level, I liken to fear or inclination or attitude.

An analogy perhaps, a child accepts "I'm poor at Maths". They may be poor at Maths and do something about it, or believe they are forever cursed to fail in Maths.

Me, I'd rather the child always believes they are good in Maths so when they do poorly, they think "I'm good at Maths; I just need to get my game on". Too much introspection is a sure recipe for depression.

Depression appears due to the fact that people can not cope with the rhythm of life. The 21st century is a century of haste. We are all in a hurry somewhere and trying to manage as many things as possible. If we do not have time, then we feel depressed.
Vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas