I'll cite my mom again. Her pithy wisdom on this subject is "It's nice to be smart, but it's smart to be nice." She used it with my sister and me, and now I use it with my kids.
When one of my kids takes the drama queen position, I remind myself of their extreme natures, their sensitivities. To them it really does feel right that second like they'd rather be dead or that they wish they'd never been born. When they're mad at a playmate, they really do hate them and feel that they're not friends anymore.
It's part of the learning process. As long as it's fleeting (not a sign of clinical depression) and you can talk them down from it, it's just part of the GT package, I'm afraid. Rephrasing their big feelings seems to help my kids. When they say "I wish I were dead," I say "Wow, you're really unhappy. Let's talk about that."
It's hard to hear them say those sad things, but it's not at all unusual.
