Don't Ignore Boredom as a Cause.

• Position: Link to depression, Boring Institute - Brief Article

It is estimated that, at any given time, there are 10,000,000 Americans suffering from depression. Of these, an estimated 10% will commit suicide. The Boring Institute, a media spoof (it was created to poke fun at celebrities, movies, television, and other media-related personalities and events that are fraught with boredom as the result of overexposure) as well as a clearinghouse for information about boredom, says that, of the signs most frequently listed as indicators of depression, boredom is almost always neglected. "The next time someone tells you they're bored to death," says Alan Caruba, the institute's founder, "take it seriously."

The American Psychological Association includes "finding little or no pleasure in life" and "experiencing a change in eating or sleeping patterns," along with "losing interest in hobbies or sleeping patterns," in its list of the signs of depression, "but the presence of an extended period of boredom is not mentioned," Caruba notes. "It should be."

Among teens and senior citizens, suicide is a major cause of death, "and these two groups are most likely to complain of being bored," he points out. Parents of teens and even pre-teens...