Since I know my audience ;), I won't use the term "institutionalized child abuse", but I will say that the way the Church messes with kids heads is close to shameful.

Is Dr. Neibaur still practicing down in that area? He gave a great fireside one time on depression among church members.

Oh my. What a graceless thing to say.

So it is your contention that your niece's ambivalent feelings toward the church and her parents' troubled marriage can all be laid at the feet of a mission president who sent her home prematurely?

I've known a few missionaries to come home early in my day. Some weather it and some don't, and as you note, much of their success has to do with the support they receive from those around them.

I can think of one relative in particular who returned home after 2 days in the MTC to resolve some chastity issues. He came home "on fire" as they say, reading his scriptures every day, determined to return. He unfortunately did not receive good priesthood support. The brethren around him tragically dropped the ball, were indifferent to his circumstances, and eventually he fell away. His family remains active and he is not hostile to the church, but he has "moved on." He is still young, and we can remain hopeful, but I wonder how much different his life would have been had he received the local support he needed.

That being said, I find your story to be a little one-sided. While there are those in any ward who judge and demean someone who returns early, I have not encountered the widespread ostracism you describe ... to the point of destroying someone's marriage. If what you say is really true, then obviously there is a problem with much of the community in which they live. It is without question contrary to the spirit of everything the gospel means.

This was my reaction as well. My ward has had a couple fo missionaries return home ealry. My family has had the same thing happen. I have not seen anyone be ostracized from family or from the ward and, to the contrary, in my ward, I think people tend to be very solicitous and try to be helpful. I am sure there are wards where early returnees may feel ostracized, but I do not think it is the norm.

Both. Is that enough enlightenment on the subject?

To elaborate, I think it's a little ridiculous to assume that real depression/anxiety exist only in people over 21 (or 18, or whatever the cutoff is), although that is the assumption the medical community worked under for years. As soon as you identify a biochemical basis for depression, you also admit it can exist any age. That is being done more and more frequently and appropriately so. The challenge comes in distinguishing normal adolescent angst (or stress of mission field) from pathologic depression, and I think it's occasionally being overdiagnosed.

You are correct that I am one-sided (and emotional to a fault) on this topic and have not spoken to all the involved parties. The community and ward in CA where my aunt and uncle reside is very upscale - huge homes, all the toys, competition, etc. There appears to be this underlying requirement to raise what those in the ward perceive to be 100% perfect kids (i.e. missions, temple marriages, etc.), and exhibit all of the outer trappings of material success. Those who fall short of this supposed norm are isolated.

If somebody has pathological depression, then it should be treated. And I was under the impression it's more pronounced and diagnosable in persons over 21.

However, there seems to be a tendency that if a kid misbehaves or suffers from some sort of angst, we need to jump to the meds. I'm familiar with entire families where every individual has a panoply of meds by the time he or she is ten.

Of course, that is anecdotal, and not useful.

Psychotherapy + meds is much more effective than meds alone or psychotherapy alone.

Some things are overdiagnosed, but I think giving meds without psychotherapy is a big problem (although this isn't my expertise by a long shot).

Wow, you told Tex he is correct. Has Tex ever told anyone they were correct when discussing something. I know he will back track and claim he didn't say what he did. However, has he ever issued the words, you are correct or I was wrong.

I also was once friends with a girl that had to describe in detail how many times in and out, etc. She got the real impression that the bishop was getting a chub about it. She went inactive shortly thereafter, and as far as I know is still inactive 10-15 years later.