Mental illness in Hundred Acre Wood
Winnie the Pooh is a classic tale by A.A Milne which has spanned generations of readers. But Shea et al suggest that there may be more to the characters of the story
than previously thought. The characters seem to be expressing certain characteristics which meet the DSM-IV criteria for disorders.[1] They started the diagnosis with Pooh bear, and by doing some intensive backgrounding research on the character, they concluded that there could have been an incidence of
"Shaken bear syndrome" which caused the prevalence of some of his disorders later on in his life. I will not go into details of the other characters, but I have included a table
from the paper which shows the results of the diagnosis by Shea et al. [1]
It's interesting trying to see this from a child's point of view, when I was a child I never really understood why Eeyore was always so sad. Even when I asked adults, they never explained
to me that it was depression, I always saw him as a grouchy character. I believe the findings of this study really make you stop and think what children are watching and taking in.
There is so much more complexity to a program meant for children than just characters playing out a story. I highly recommend taking a look at this paper.
than previously thought. The characters seem to be expressing certain characteristics which meet the DSM-IV criteria for disorders.[1] They started the diagnosis with Pooh bear, and by doing some intensive backgrounding research on the character, they concluded that there could have been an incidence of
"Shaken bear syndrome" which caused the prevalence of some of his disorders later on in his life. I will not go into details of the other characters, but I have included a table
from the paper which shows the results of the diagnosis by Shea et al. [1]
It's interesting trying to see this from a child's point of view, when I was a child I never really understood why Eeyore was always so sad. Even when I asked adults, they never explained
to me that it was depression, I always saw him as a grouchy character. I believe the findings of this study really make you stop and think what children are watching and taking in.
There is so much more complexity to a program meant for children than just characters playing out a story. I highly recommend taking a look at this paper.