Transcendental Meditation increases Inner Happiness in Children - Ten million children in America take antidepressant medication. Therein lie two terrible facts: first, that so many youngsters are diagnosed as clinically depressed; and second, that they are forced to take potent medications, most with known hazardous side effects. (In fact, the most widely prescribed antidepressant, Prozac, was just banned by the FDA for use among children because it has been shown to lead to suicide.) A study on meditating children at a middle school in inner-city Detroit — and the experience of their teachers and parents — confirms what previously published research has shown: The Transcendental Meditation program increases inner happiness, self-esteem, and self-worth and reduces anxiety and depression. The research results and the classroom experience suggest that this same program, offered to students on a wider scale, could well provide a nondrug antidote for childhood depression—or better yet, prevent depression in the first place.