Depression? It's All in the Eyes -- the Pupil -- For a Kid
Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could pick out the kids who are going to be depressed later in life before they do something everyone regrets? In California alone, 12 children between the ages of 5 and 14 committed suicide in 2012. Even one is too many. But now scientists have found that we might be able to predict this deadly outcome just by looking in our children's eyes. Really? Yes. But maybe not in the way you would think, I'm lucky. My teenager seems pretty happy-to-lucky. While he's pretty intense (a teacher once called him "cerebral) and lives a lot in his head, he's still grounded enough to be on a local championship soccer team (and to smash the ball around on our front lawn with numerous friends). But I know that can change in a flash. What researchers have found is that how much a child’s pupil dilates in response to seeing an emotional image can predict his or her risk of depression over the next two years, according to ...