From Bruce Levine:
On depression in adolescence: “Why is it that so many young people have unhealed wounds? Since our consumer culture is increasingly uncomfortable when it comes to dealing with pain, many parents have difficulty dealing with their children’s pain. Parents with unhealed wounds cannot deal with the wounds of their kids. … [This creates distance] and with this distance, teens feel unknown, … They cannot really experience deep care or love.” pp83-84
“Kafka saw how this increasingly dehumanizing new world order would infect families and destroy human kindness. He knew that those like himself, who were especially sensitive to this reality, would be the first to feel alienated, anguished, and depressed, but that eventually so would everyone. …
“There’s a long list of artists … who, in response to tremendous pain, either committed suicide or abused substances resulting in premature death. And there’s an even longer list of people who are equally overwhelmed by their emotions, sensitivity, and intuition, but who lack the talent, support, or luck necessary to create great works.” p85
“I believe that in true community and a rehumanized society, we would want intuitive, prophetic, and pessimistic people. Even when people with such temperaments do not become great visionaries, they are valuable as canaries in the mine. … From my experience, they may be more prone to depression, but they are almost always right when they warn that a family, a community, a society, or a culture is in trouble.” pp87-88