anxiety disorders, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder

By Elizabeth Keyser

There's an epidemic among the affluent - a 200 percent increase in depression among children in the upper classes, according to psychologist Madeline Levine.

Levine is the author of the recently published "The Price of Privilege: How Parental Pressure and Material Advantage are Creating a Generation of Disconnected and Unhappy Kids" (Harper Collins), and she recently spoke at the New Canaan Library and at Just Books Too in Greenwich.

"Affluent kids have three times the rate of depression, three times the rate of anxiety disorders and substantial rates of substance abuse and psychological disorders such as eating disorders and cutting than other socio-economic groups in the U.S.," she told the group of approximately 20 women who had come to hear her speak at the New Canaan Library. Later that evening, she spoke to a standing-room-only crowd at Just Books Too.

The book grew out of Levine's 25-year practice treating children and adolescents. About eight years ago Levine started seeing a change in her clients. In the past, young people in distress had an outward air of being frazzled, she said. Now the kids she was seeing looked good from the outside.

The teenagers were articulate, sophisticated and getting good grades. But below the surface, they were troubled.

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