A guest post by TikunOlam

DovBear pointed me in the direction of an interesting article printed in today's NYT.

A Jostled Princess, a Heavy Crown
By MARTIN FACKLER
Published: March 11, 2010

It discusses the royal family of Japan. DB posed a few questions on twitter to myself (a clinical psychologist) and @aspacewithin (a doctoral candidate in clinical psychology). He wondered if he was right to be surprised that the child of royalty is being bullied in school and wondered how a woman with emotional problems landed a prince.

DB's question: How did a woman with emotional problems snag a prince?

The article refers to the Princess Masako's problems as being approximately 7 years old. The couple married in 1993. The Princess may have never suffered from any emotional problems prior to the marriage. Today's scientific understanding of depression utilizes a "diathesis stress" model. This means that environmental triggers coupled with physiological or genetic predispositions make a person more vulnerable to the development of depression. The Princess was a commoner prior to her marriage to her husband. I can only guess that the pressures of being in the public eye, coupled with the very public criticism of her "failure" to produce a male heir, likely contributed to her depression. We also have no idea what other types of stressors may exist in her life.

What about 8 year-old Aiko, a princess, being bullied?

Eight year-old children do not generally care how "important" a child is. Bullies target vulnerable children. Doesn't matter if she comes to school with a tiara (in fact, if she did, the kids would likely bully her that much more). Knowing that Aiko's…