Adolescent depression in Japan: as studied from Shimoda's theory and Harter's theory

Through the daily treatment of depressive adolescents we have come to feel that such cases present with a common specific state at onset that includes hypersensitivity and a tendency to neuroticism. This state is reminiscent of the introverted character of children reported by Shimoda in 1929 and of immodithymic character that he later proposed as the pre-pathological character of bipolar disorders. In contrast, we supposed that it might be important to evaluate these adolescents from the low self-worth theory and to compare adolescent psychopathology between the USA and Japan. In order to ascertain these issues, we performed a clinical survey of the junior and high school students who came to outpatient clinics, and thereby demonstrated the necessity of understanding the depressive adolescents from the standpoint of character theory and self-worth theory. We then attempted some field work with ordinary junior high school children as object using Harter's self-perception profile and Kovac's CDI. The results showed that depressive tendencies and self-worth differed greatly among Japanese junior high school children and American counterparts. We have used these findings to discuss the psychopathology of depressive tendencies in Japanese adolescents.