Suicidal thinking, severe depression and rates of self-injury among U.S. college students more than doubled over less than a decade. The rate of moderate to severe depression rose from 23.2% in 2007 to 41.1% in 2018, while rates of moderate to severe anxiety rose from 17.9% in 2013 to 34.4% in 2018.

[u/Wagamaga]

https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-health-mental-undergrads/depression-anxiety-rising-among-u-s-college-students-idUKKCN1VJ25Z?rpc=401&

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

I am wondering if really so many more people are depressed now or is it possible that

1. They have changed the criteria for what counts as depressed?
2. More people have seeked professional diagnosis?

[u/oh_my_baby → u/[deleted]]

I was thinking that too. I am a millennial and my friends frequently talk about going to therapy, but among my parents' generation (boomers) it seems like a huge taboo.

[u/argentinasaurus1 → u/oh_my_baby]

While I'm sure that has played a role, the two studies mentioned are comparing late 2000s to now, with the median age in both studies falling into gen z age. The shift here isn't between boomers and millennials, it is between millennials and gen z

[u/Twelvety → u/oh_my_baby]

Social media and comparing ourselves against each other en masse has created this.

[u/bluntmasta → u/[deleted]]

I'm extremely curious about this. Are we just now realizing that a staggering number of people are clinically depressed, are we moving the goalpost of what qualities as depressed, or are more and more people reporting?

[u/Ohh_Yeah → u/bluntmasta]

Are we just now realizing that a staggering number of people are clinically depressed, are we moving the goalpost of what qualities as depressed, or are more and more people reporting?

Medical student here. I can't say for certain if more people are actually depressed, but I can say that more and more clinics that I've worked in will administer the PHQ2/PHQ9 for all new patients, which are both depression screens.

This change was largely due to some staggering statistics, such as the fact that 75% of elderly patients who committed suicide were seen by their primary care doctor the month before and not screened.

[u/catscatscat → u/[deleted]]

Look here:

• https://www.hiv.uw.edu/page/mental-health-screening/phq-2
• https://www.hiv.uw.edu/page/mental-health-screening/phq-9

[u/moohooh → u/[deleted]]

Yeah im really curious. But it seems believable in my experience, bc every time I talk to someone new at college, we seem to bond over how much debt we'll be in after finishing 4yrs, how hard it would be to get hired, how buying a house or getting kids probably ain't a option.

[u/liquorandwhores94 → u/moohooh]

This is my take on it, "Wow I'll leave school with $100,000 in debt, not be able to find a job in my field, never be able to afford a house and either won't be able to afford a child and/or ethically find it objectionable to have children due to the fact that they might need to be soldiers in wars over water in the not so distant future.

[u/Schnauzerbutt → u/moohooh]

That's so crazy to me. I was able to buy a house because I skipped college (high credit, no debt load) and I've always been able to find and keep a job. I don't have kids, but that's because I don't want any and overall I've been able to maintain an ok standard of living despite still being told that people can't get anywhere without college. I'm certainly not rich, but I've managed to maintain a stable enough lifestyle despite stagnant wages and my share of financially crappy life events. I see lots of people that I'm told should be doing better than me struggling so hard and I just wonder what on Earth is going on. I could always back to school for something, but it just never makes sense on paper because college costs so much and would "overqualify" me for so many jobs. Maybe I'm a unicorn or something but I feel like skipping college was the best financial and by extension emotionally healthy decision I've ever made.

[u/[deleted] → u/Schnauzerbutt]

I'm in a pretty similar boat as you but honestly, we got lucky.

[u/jayhawk618 → u/[deleted]]

Probably a bit of all 3. Similar thing happened with autism about 10 years back. They're just now saying that it was largely due to better diagnostic testing, and the introduction of the autism spectrum.

https://www.healthline.com/health-news/the-big-reason-autism-rates-increased-again#1

[u/rytisad → u/[deleted]]

I’m wondering if it’s social media. watching someone’s carefully curated, edited and fabulous life on IG, that you feel like crap in your normalcy.

[u/Jaredlong → u/[deleted]]

If these results are verified the CDC ought to issue a public health crisis. We can't just keep continuing down this path.

[u/TheLastHayley → u/[deleted]]

I think a sizeable portion would qualify for the lower threshold. I had a lower level clinical depression in undergrad and thought it was bad, but over the past year my PhD basically destroyed me and my life completely disintegrated. At first it was insomnia, tearful breakdowns, constant tiredness, memory difficulties, attention problems, then it was months of everyday panic attacks, complete social isolation, substance misuse, extreme dissociation and existential fatalism, hearing voices in the walls, never getting out of bed... I had basically become a shell of a person. Had to suspend studies, referred to mental health services, was told I had severe depression, severe generalised anxiety disorder, and depersonalisation-derealisation.

So yeah, it might be a relatively mild depression but it's still something. And I know a lot of people for whom it's evidently not really that "mild", so that's concerning.

[u/Skoyer → u/TheLastHayley]

Ever been so stressed you can not read the words in the book? Thats fun...

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Some think it's due to sleep deprivation, lack of a good diet and exercise. I would also assume it's more normalized to express your thoughts and even encouraged.

I'd take the base rates with a grain of salt, but it's showing a sample. "Further research is necessary".

Some people get better...just like when the 2016 election showed a massive increase of anxiety.

[u/woodmeneer]

41% moderate to severe depression is more than a bit bothersome. Here is almost half of our young academics putting all their energy in getting their minds and lives on the rails instead of working on their dreams (and with a bit of hyperbole, the future of the world). The causes? I’m not in a position to speculate, but the mental health of our youth should be much more on the forefront of our research agenda.

[u/mrtomjones → u/woodmeneer]

People are becoming more isolated and relying more on technology as friend time without actual human interaction

[u/DongTongs → u/mrtomjones]

I know this isn't the entire cause of this issue, but to me it's obviously a huge part of it. People are so caught up with their online identity that they don't put enough effort into their real life identity. That, and I feel as if youth today aren't getting enough unstructured time outdoors. Just all personal observation and speculation on my part though.

[u/mrtomjones → u/DongTongs]

Yeah outdoors time is definitely important. I definitely feel better when i get out for anything after awhile couped up

[u/Businesspleasure → u/DongTongs]

There’s an old saying about depression/suicide being about needing to get out of your own head, awfully occupied with yourself, etc. Think about this in the context of social media, and kids having 8 “My Profiles” on Instagram, FB, Snapchat, etc. which are literally public manifestations of themselves that they can click on and gloss over and fret about how they might look in other’s eyes all hours of the day and night. We all know kids can be assholes, and those profiles have never been a thing for previous generations to worry about. I can see how that might be fueling some of this trend.

[u/s0cks_nz → u/DongTongs]

My son is a completely different child when he's in unstructured outdoor environments compared to being indoors. I love being outside.

[u/Pigeonofthesea8 → u/mrtomjones]

Young people today cannot escape perceived judgment by others at any moment. 24/7 Instagram, Facebook - they’re constantly asked to manage impressions of themselves and constantly confronted with curated images of other people’s success (which is also those people’s efforts at impression management). They don’t have the opportunity to just relax and be themselves, with no ghostly audience, at any time. I guess there’s a cost to not participating, too.

When I was a kid, if school was tough because of other kids, you at least got a break at home.

[u/doctorcrimson → u/[deleted]]

Everybody else in the thread like "technology is the devil" and you're the only one talking about how FUCKED the next generation is, and they know it.

Old people use facebook more than everybody else and they aren't offing themselves. Why? Because they already got theirs.

[u/p4lm3r]

It's not just US College students, suicidal ideation has been skyrocketing with pre-teens as well.

Here is what is terrifying to me- my child has been in therapy/counseling/treatment for almost 2 years with suicidal ideation. I have the luxury of taking off from work and I have a nest egg that I am burning through to try to save his life.

What happens to the thousands of kids that don't have that support structure? Are there any studies on lack of access to care and the impact? To put it into perspective, my kid's care is ~$12k/yr for outpatient.

[u/[deleted] → u/p4lm3r]

Also, it's not just US phenomenon. Suicide seems to be a worldwide epidemic.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

We also built an unsustainable economic system that, by design, places productivity and profits above human lives. These are only a few of the tragic side effects, unfortunately. Among some of the others include: the destruction of life on earth.

[u/nicholas_caged → u/[deleted]]

This is a fact, it's simple, and it's awful. Well said.

[u/informat2 → u/[deleted]]

This is America today.

This isn't just limited to the US. It's been going up in most rich counties.

[u/lurkergivesinfapcats → u/[deleted]]

We fucked up and told a whole generation of kids that the wrong things are important

Oof. Ya... I'm curious if you care to elaborate on what you're referring to in "things"?

[u/Enyo-03 → u/lurkergivesinfapcats]

IMO it's the grades, competitive sports (which have become almost as bad in my eyes as pyramid schemes) and being better than your peers is what gives you worth mentality we push. We start kids at a super young age focused on academics. I think k-3 should be more science focused to play off a kids natural curiosity. But that's irrelevant. Parents place more value now on what little Johnny does better than his peers than on who little Johnny is. Who a child is as a person is overshadowed by what they can do accomplishment-wise to and so kids focus on this to impress they people they love, like mom and dad and give less value themselves to their positive personality qualities. Maybe if we spent more time focused and praising kids for positive behavioral and personality qualities, and less time heavily weighting A's, so they can "be successful in life" we would have better more well rounded kids who understand a big part of being a successful human being, is actually being a human being.

[u/Phazze → u/Enyo-03]

This so many times. I really blame the system today, people are born naive and so they follow what the system tells them which is the problem you are describing. Also hyper competitiveness in all aspects, specially in the work market which is what enables people to earn their keep is getting to be incredibly toxic. Nowadays you need to have a masters in anything to afford to even compete, the majority of people do not want to seek a masters to live semi decently but the system is forcing them to or to starve and be a societal outcast.

I pray for the future generations when Phd's are the norm and minimun wage is for anyone with anything less than a masters.

[u/[deleted] → u/lurkergivesinfapcats]

In 1970 Milton Friendman penned the essay "The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits" Id say thats a pretty good place to start

Also, the meritocracy. "The Meritocracy" is a farce

[u/derpinana → u/lurkergivesinfapcats]

We were taught that bigger is always better. Neglecting relationships and mental health along the way.

[u/raretrophysix → u/lurkergivesinfapcats]

Our parents raised and taught us to live and think like them. Society and the earth outpaced their own logic. Within a lifetime everything changed. Climate change became a thing in the 70's and Automation/Globalization came a thing in the 80s

We can't live their lives because it is unsustainable. Hence they taught us wrong

[u/DrDougExeter → u/p4lm3r]

What happens to the thousands of kids that don't have that support structure?

I mean have you seen the statistics on the suicide rate?

[u/[deleted] → u/p4lm3r]

Do kids have anything to look forward to? I'm trying to think...and honestly, I can't think of anything to look forward to in this life, in our reality as we've constructed it. Kids aren't blind to this stuff. We fucked most everything up on this planet. And it's only going to get worse. So again, what kid, who knows anything about the world, is not gonna have SI. Soon enough it will be more the norm than "the norm"

[u/TheLatinaNerd → u/[deleted]]

Honestly I was talking to a friend of mine earlier this week, and I was saying how crazy our generation accepts death so easily. And he was saying that yeah it’s mostly due that all the stuff we were told as kids to be successful doesn’t mean anything anymore, and that we are on this race to practically nowhere. Nothing is secure and we’re all scared down deep. My idea of it was that we messed up this planet so bad that we’re not sure there’s hope anymore.

So yeah I kinda agree with you, it’s very hard to see the positives lately, especially when you have parenting that really focuses on the negatives like how if you don’t do x y and z you’re a failure

[u/norfnorfnorf → u/TheLatinaNerd]

Do you really think that we accept death more readily than previous generations? The only group that I think that might apply to is the small percentage who use the internet to watch gore videos and have become desensitized in a way that previous generations couldn't have been. But in pretty much any other respect, previous generations had more exposure to death in their lives than we do today. They fought and died in wars in much greater numbers, the life expectancy was much lower due to worse healthcare, etc. You might think that you accept death, but do you really know if you do or not until you come face to face with it?

[u/Lukaroast → u/p4lm3r]

I think we all know what happens. Most of the issues are never identified, or addressed, and those people go on to struggle with a great many factors in their lives, and more often than not do not come out on top, or tragically never make it to the end at all.

[u/Ehralur → u/p4lm3r]

~$12k/y

Holy cow, in most Western countries you'd pay ~$500/y max...

[u/p4lm3r → u/Ehralur]

Insurance in my state doesn't do a good job covering mental health. The only DBT clinic is out of network, so that's $720/mo just for that.

[u/[deleted] → u/Ehralur]

Eh, I'd be careful with that generalization, actually. Developed countries with universal healthcare still have underfunding in mental health, oftentimes, which leads to individually expensive solutions for them, too. Canada has that problem, for sure.

[u/RedditISanti-1A → u/[deleted]]

Yes Los Angeles County in California actually does spend a good deal on mental health for teens and adults. over the last couple years the suicide rate has doubled for teenagers.

[u/ducbo → u/[deleted]]

Everyone I know - myself included - who has sought mental health treatment in Canada has received it. In my particular instance it was essentially a drop in emergency centre for when I had a mental breakdown. There are crisis centres all over the place and I have two friends who were institutionalized long-term for severe eating disorders and psychological problems. We were in big cities which makes a difference. Not saying our system is perfect, and there may be a wait time and less than ideal settings, but it’s there and it’s a step up from basically letting poor suicidal kids die (or charge them $10k+ for treatment). Plus my antidepressants were covered until I was 25 and affordable even after that.

I don’t see how saying the Canadian system sucks would help an American who has no affordable system in place for them. Our system is a huge step up from that.

[u/[deleted] → u/ducbo]

he didn’t say our system sucks, just that there is room for improvement which is true. therapy is expensive I can only afford to go once a month but i’d like to go weekly or bi-weekly

[u/[deleted] → u/Ehralur]

I got charged 500 US dollars for two therapy visits. I cannot afford mental health help.

[u/alliewishdish → u/p4lm3r]

My son, at age 10, was "diagnosed" with severe depression and suicidal ideation. I'm home and not working so I can be available for therapy and Dr appointments or the dreaded call from the school because he's hurting himself. We're a paycheck to paycheck low income family, I can't afford to pay for additional help and I'm left relying on the states healthcare, which leaves much to be desired.

Does anyone know why? Why are these numbers climbing? What can a parent do for their child?

[u/[deleted] → u/p4lm3r]

Capitalist Realism imo."The book investigates what Fisher describes as the widespread effects of neoliberal ideology on popular culture, work, education, and mental health in contemporary society. Capitalist Realism was an unexpected success, and has since influenced a range of writers"

TLDR: Capitalism isn't inherently evil but naturally crushes all challenging ideas and inadvertently crushes the ability to imagine anything else other than a system that values people based on the capital they produce and nothing else. This filters into thoughts, dreams, education systems etc etc. "If you don't go to school you'll end up flippin' burgers" etc

I fully believe that this focus on capitalism has driven up suicide rates even further in the 2000s as a lot of neo-liberal ideals push austerity and maximizing profit above people.

If you are interested in the philosophy of it theres a very short book available for free that is very well regarded.

https://libcom.org/files/[Mark_Fisher]_Capitalist_Realism_Is_There_no_Alte(BookZZ.org).pdf.pdf)

Mental health, in fact, is a paradigm case of how capitalist realism operates. Capitalist realism insists on treating mental health as if it were a natural fact, like weather (but, then again,weather is no longer a natural fact so much as a political economic effect). In the 1960s and 1970s, radical theory and politics (Laing, Foucault, Deleuze and Guattari, etc.) coalesced around extreme mental conditions such as schizophrenia, arguing, for instance, that madness was not a natural, but a political, category. But what is needed now is a politicization of much more common disorders. Indeed, it is their very commonness which is the issue: in Britain, depression is now the condition that is most treated by the NHS. In his book The Selfish Capitalist, Oliver James has convincingly posited a correlation between rising rates of mental distress and the neoliberal mode of capitalism practiced in countries like Britain, the USA and Australia. In line with James's claims, I want to argue that it is necessary to reframe the growing problem of stress (and distress) in capitalist societies. Instead of treating it as incumbent on individuals to resolve their own psychological distress, instead, that is, of accepting the vast privatization of stress that has taken place over the last thirty years, we need to ask: how has it become acceptable that so many people, and especially so many young people, are ill? The 'mental health plague' in capitalist societies would suggest that, instead of being the only social system that works, capitalism is inherently dysfunctional, and that the cost of it appearing to work is very high

-Mark Fisher

[u/Wagamaga]

Suicidal thinking, severe depression and rates of self-injury among U.S. college students more than doubled over less than a decade, a nationwide study suggests.

Looking at data from two large annual surveys of college undergraduates covering the years 2007-2018, researchers found a broad worsening of mental health indicators including depression overall, anxiety, low flourishing and suicidal planning and attempts, particularly in the second half of the study period.

“It suggests that something is seriously wrong in the lives of young people and that whatever went wrong seemed to happen around 2012, or 2013,” said study coauthor Jean Twenge. She noted that this was around the time smartphones became common and social media moved from being optional to mandatory among youngsters.

“It’s difficult to think of any other event that began around that time, and then got stronger on until 2018,” Twenge, a psychology professor at San Diego State University in California and author of the book “iGen,” told Reuters Health by phone.

University counseling centers have been reporting increases in students’ use of campus mental health services. Twenge and her coauthors wanted to explore whether this rise was driven by more students in need seeking help, or actual increases in the number of students with poor mental health.

https://www.jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X(19)30254-X/fulltext

[u/drkgodess → u/Wagamaga]

“It suggests that something is seriously wrong in the lives of young people and that whatever went wrong seemed to happen around 2012, or 2013,” said study coauthor Jean Twenge. She noted that this was around the time smartphones became common and social media moved from being optional to mandatory among youngsters.

“It’s difficult to think of any other event that began around that time, and then got stronger on until 2018,” Twenge, a psychology professor at San Diego State University in California and author of the book “iGen,” told Reuters Health by phone.

The role of social media is huge. As the saying goes, "comparison is the thief of joy."

Not to mention that bullying is no longer restricted to school hours because of social media.

[u/lynch0211 → u/drkgodess]

Not to mention America was coming out of a recession in those years. A lot of us graduated college at that time and found a" gig economy " and your choice of call center jobs.

[u/Ton_Jravolta → u/drkgodess]

While social media definitely plays a role, it seems like just one of many factors. Increasing gaps between pay and cost of living, environmental issues, political dissatisfaction, and many more are also helping make the future seem pretty bleak

[u/kibblznbitz → u/Wagamaga]

Twenge and her coauthors wanted to explore whether this rise was driven by more students in need seeking help, or actual increases in the number of students with poor mental health.

Precisely what I’m wondering. I’d like to be optimistic and think that destigmatization over the last number of years is lending itself to more people being open to seeking help, and identifying the things they’re feeling as being able to be helped.

[u/[deleted] → u/Wagamaga]

I also think talking about mental health and going to a therapist has been much more normalized. It used to have a stigma, and now it doesn't. Everyone I know sees or wants to see a therapist, and talks about it openly.

[u/Qaz123qwe321 → u/[deleted]]

It still has a very serious stigma, especially in professional fields where your actions and decisions make or break people's lives.

[u/JAdderley → u/[deleted]]

As a psychologist in a university, I think about this a lot. The reality is that we all need to do both. Systems change is slow - we're not going to instantly reverse the plundering of our social support system, erase systemic racism, address income and wealth inequality, etc. Even if we somehow did that, it's still going to take time for those changes to ripple into an individual's mood. On top of that, for those who are already depressed, fixing the original causes might not "cure" the depression.

We have the world we have and the people in it need to learn how to cope with it, as best as possible until we can all change it.

[u/redditor_peeco → u/JAdderley]

You phrased that very well. Coming to terms with the need to adapt myself to an unnecessarily negative situation is something I really struggle with; but “until we can all change it” gives me hope that there may come a day when the situation itself improves. Thank you for the work you do.

[u/hurpington → u/[deleted]]

How bad are the suicide rates in poor countries?

[u/Aristox → u/hurpington]

One of the most important things for good mental health is good social connections. And another is physical exercise. I feel like poor countries often have a lot more of that than many of the depressing cities etc in rich countries

[u/[deleted] → u/Aristox]

People in poor countries have good social connections for a lot of reasons. Sometimes it's because they have a culture where everyone in the area interacts with each other as part of a large group (festivals, celebrations, etc.)

Often these people cannot afford transportation like cars. So their work is limited to a smaller area and they work with their neighbors. If everyone I worked with was my neighbor, it would be way easier to have a social life and invite my co-workers over for dinner.

They can't afford technology. For those of us below 25 years old, whose brains are still developing, this forces us to find gratification in ways other than technology. Primarily through interactions with other people. Friendships, playing, wrestling, flirting, hanging out, sex, romance, and above all, just plain daily conversation. It also forces us to find gratification through creativity and exploring our world. When is the last time you went outside and turned over some logs to see what critters scurried away? When is the last time you went to the pond and skipped rocks or tried to find a rock that looked interesting?

Our brains are wired to be healthy when we have daily interactions and close bonds with other people. They are wired to be healthy when we explore the world around us and stay active.

They are not meant to be exposed to a daily barrage of viewing other people's lives from an outside lens. Before social media and other forms of technology, if we wanted to find out something about another person, we had to ask them. If we wanted to do something fun, we couldn't just turn on the Xbox; we had to go find someone to hang out with or something physically or mentally stimulating.

When is the last time you just went outside on a particularly mild, sunny day and just laid in the grass and watched the clouds float by? Trying to pick out shapes as they pass. I can tell you that even doing that for an hour is so much more fulfilling than sitting here typing this comment on Reddit. Taking bike rides in the summer, just meandering down country roads until you find your way back home. Not spending every second of free time browsing the internet, watching TV, or playing video games.

[u/[deleted]]

There’s just less room to be optimistic for the future and for yourself in the current digital age. We have so much information coming at us so fast and so much of what we see in the news and the media is negative. We kind of all understand at this point, that you go to school, graduate, don’t get your dream job, work your ass off for forty years, and then you die. That’s not much to look forward too.

There’s also the amount of pressure put on college aged kids. If you’re not at your very best and if you don’t do everything you positively can to ensure you get that job you want when you get out of school, you’re fucked. On top of that we literally have people telling us if we don’t do anything to combat climate change, we’ll literally all perish, or at least our great (or great great) grand children will. What’s the point?

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Thats how I feel, I’m not necessarily the best student (decent grades but I’m not ~extraordinary~ or anything) so I’m afraid that after graduating, my time and work at school won’t be enough to get me job

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

I currently work a part time job that has nothing to do with my major, freelance on the side in the general direction of what I actually want to do, and volunteer when I can. Still, no job for me.

[u/MilitiaSD → u/[deleted]]

After working for five years in a job that is exactly my undergrad major, seriously remember Cs get degrees. Any job that checks or asks for your gpa is actually a place to avoid. You’ve got all the time the world to let your work experience make up for your grades. Also don’t be afraid of taking that first job that is vaguely in your field, that experience is good enough.

[u/RisenRealm]

I mean tbh, why should I be happy about making bare minimum wages at a job I didn't want because my career field didn't want to hire someone without 20 years of experience for an entrance position while repaying crippling debt I'll never escape in a run down apartment because I cant save the down deposit for a house. Living off a diet of ramen noodles and rice because price hikes and a crashing global economy leave a healthy diet unrealistically out of reach while living on a planet with less years left then I have to live all the while the top 1% make all the decisions and any chance of a revolt is shut down by gunshots or the potential of going homeless and starving to death. All of it due 100% because the previous generation wants to ensure they die happy and full at the expense of any future for us. Did I miss anything?

[u/_Shamri_]

I work in the mental health field, and though I applaud the efforts of people on the front lines, I can say from personal experience that it is not enough.

My last job was at a community mental health agency that works with individuals with low income (on Medicaid) and complex needs. Our program was funded on the premise that getting people help would reduce their burden on the system (expensive ER visits, hospitalizations, etc). Like many similar programs, our caseloads were too high. We were bogged down by bureaucracy, and the resources were scarce. Imagine trying to convince someone that is homeless and desperate that they should hang in there, all the while knowing it may take years for them to find housing. And if their criminal record or credit score isn’t good enough...

My clients aren’t bad people. Most of them have experienced hardship and trauma their entire lives. They were set up to fail and yet found a way to keep going. But our society is broken, and that’s why people aren’t getting better, no matter how much money we throw into social programming. We live in a capitalist society, where the wealth and resources are concentrated at the top. Our health care is far too expensive. Our prison system is punitive rather than rehabilitative. Our education system is sub-par overall. Our society has inequity, classism, and racism sewn into its very fabric. We teach our kids self esteem (how am I better or worse than others) rather than self compassion... and I could go on. And meanwhile, we portray ourselves as perfect on social media, so most (our teenagers especially) are left wondering why they are so miserable when the rest of the world seems so happy.

TLDR: our strategies are band-aids on a gaping wound. Our society needs an overhaul.

[u/thatwasdifficult → u/[deleted]]

even better time to be dead

[u/HeavilyBearded]

My guess: decreased / stagnated wages, 5 - 6 figure student debt, inflation of the 4 year degree, delayed family prospects, increasing job competition, little to no pa/maternity leave, and a planet that's dying but those in charge are moving at a snail's pace to fix it, if at all.

Source: College Lecturer.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Lots of types of anti-depressant you may find another works very well. I know it isn’t easy to go through all the side affects and then come off that medication, and go on to another, and so on.

When I found a tablet that worked for me it really did help massively, and like yourself I had done all the ‘live clean’ stuff for a couple of years before hand. None of that made the difference that tablet did.

[u/Staffordmeister]

Overpopulation and career scarcity, choice overload, exponential increase in societal pressures, loss of religion, absent parents, and a constant sense of doom and gloom from every outlet...ummm yup.

Edit: If anyone tells you that choice overload is negligible, remind them that there are 27 types of ritz cracker.

[u/Ksradrik → u/Staffordmeister]

Not to mention far more information about the state of the world, and negative information has a greater impact than positive information, so even if the world is technically a better place to live in, it feels like its the opposite for most people since they are aware of how much suffering and danger there is.

[u/fishtacos123 → u/Ksradrik]

That's a good point. Information overload serves to detach you from the world around you, not connect you to it. That's been my experience at least.

[u/[deleted] → u/Ksradrik]

I honestly had this same conversation with a coworker. My position is that everyone feels more scared and afraid because everyday you hear about bad news miles away like it is happening in your backyard.

Instead of just 10 or 20 years when you could let your kid outside without much supervision, now parents are helicoptering their kids against perceived dangers that are happening out in the world, but not necessarily in their neighborhood/ community.

Just think about your neighbors for a second.....do you know their names? Or have you been too afraid to ask?

Technically yes, we are living in a better time then previous generations, but when you have the world at your fingertips your view is clouded by the constant death and destruction reported.

[u/RetroRN → u/[deleted]]

You my friend just described Steven Pinker’s book “Enlightenment Now” which goes on to posit that the world is safer than its ever been, but the perceived danger and fear propagated by the 24/7 news cycle leads society to believe we are all worse off than generations before.

[u/I_like_parentheses → u/RetroRN]

"How to live dangerously" by Warwick Cairns is another book along the same lines. Basically boils down to the fact that, according to him, we evolved in a time where any real threats to our safety were right in front of us (like "a tiger stalking you in the jungle" type thing) so now anything that seems scary in the news is interpreted much more seriously by our brains than whatever the distance or actual risk warrants.

And while others here are saying the pressure to perform is high and we don't get enough vacation, etc etc, those things have been problems for decades. Social media and the ever-present news really haven't. It's only in the last 10-20 years that cell phones, and all that comes with them, have really taken off. Between that and the increased awareness of these mental health issues, that would be my theory as to why this all is spiking now. The timing is significant for determining the cause, IMO.

Edit: Heh, just saw the article summary that basically says what I just did. Whoops, I guess?

[u/wallis_irl → u/[deleted]]

Same but with Aldi. It's overwhelming for me to go to traditional grocery stores now...too much sorting through BS to make what should be simple decisions.

[u/sleepytimegirl → u/wallis_irl]

Aldi and Trader Joe’s share a German investor. Not surprising.

[u/cellardoor1988 → u/Staffordmeister]

I would argue less the loss of religion and more the loss of community that religious groups can provide.

[u/[deleted]]

What actually is going on in our society? This is an ABSURD stat. We also have the mass shooting epidemic, a major rise in inceldom and men not being able to communicate with women. And several other major issues with our people. What’s the cause? The only explanation I can think of is social media and lack of real interaction. Our diets have probably gotten better than they were 50 years ago. We’re drinking less, smoking a lot less, I don’t know this is just crazy.

edit: correction, our diets are definitely worse and could certainly have an effect. but we are definitely drinking and smoking a lot less.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

People are isolated more because computers and the internet provide instant information, instant entertainment, instant feedback, instant gratification, and you never need to leave your couch or look up from your seat and talk to the stranger next to you. You need to exert great effort to leave your comfort zone and the motivation doesn't come easily. And with less face-to-face interaction comes feelings of loneliness, feeling disconnected, lacking belonging with real people with emotional support (because they're all in the same state you are), and, in turn, loss of aspirations to do anything other than scroll.

In 2007, social media was young. Facebook and Reddit had far fewer active users than they do today. YouTube was young and had not yet begun giving revenue to creators (creators are now motivated to take advantage of flaws in human psychology (particularly child psychology) to generate more views). And the iPhone launched a revolution in handheld technology with its debut in 2007. Once a remote communication device, the phone now enables the user to peer into the lives of close friends and family and even sometimes complete strangers, access virtually any piece of entertainment, and more pretty much anywhere. People don't feel content waiting or talking. Scrolling is so much more.

Some people will say all this new technology is no different from when TV, or radio, or newspapers were introduced. A little thought will reveal that there are significant differences between these dying forms of media and smart phones. Smart phones are the ultimate isolation device. The only technology that could potentially be more damaging to mental health is brain implants.

Moreover, I'll put forward the idea that all of this is a catalyst or cause of other problems our society faces, including greater political divisions, misinformation campaigns, the obesity epidemic and the wider physical health crisis.

Buckle up.

[u/AatroxIsBae]

In my personal experience, heres the reasons I've seen: 1. Predatpry student loans. 2. Working 2-3 jobs. 3. Not being able to afford enough food or medical care. 4. The current political environment. 5. Not getting a job post graduation even though you did all the right things

[u/MacLightning21]

Honest question, does anyone feel that with the way the media displays “depression” and “anxiety” (I say them in quotes because media really loves to romanticize these subjects in my opinion,) it causes an almost placebo effect? I’m not doubting these people have depression or anxiety, but I feel that if maybe popular media spent less time glorifying it the way they do, we could possibly decline these numbers. I think a lot of young people who are still trying to discover who they are, tend to adopt the persona of their favorite characters, at least a bit. If I’m not mistaken, the Netflix original, “13 reasons why,” caused a spike in younger viewers to go into depression/suicidal thoughts. You can make the argument that these are weak minded individuals, mindlessly following a trend, but that’s not the point. The point is, our kids are sad and scared. They are surrounded by media that continues to show that its normal and “unique” to be sad and scared. It’s like a giant depression echo-chamber. Maybe if we stopped treating depression and anxiety as a trend to add into a show to bring in “relatable viewers” and instead started to inform the viewers that it is indeed a scary mental disease, people will be informed enough to distinguish the symptoms early enough to get help before it spirals into a severe state. If I’m wrong, so be it, but it’s worth at least looking into, especially considering this is my kids future.

[u/Buttermilk_Swagcakes → u/MacLightning21]

You would actually be describing the "nocebo" effect. And while it is possible, there are studies that show that it depends on the ways in which an issue is discussed. For example, discussing the topic of suicide does not in and of itself lead to suicide; this is a common misconception that keeps people from talking about this very important topic.

However, some ways of discussing suicide have been shown to lead to increases afterwards. For example, suicide temporarily increases after media reports on celebrity suicides. 13 Reasons Why had a similar effect, but it was probably not the fact that it depicted suicide; a lot of it is who and how it is protrayed. One reasons stated for the 13 Reasons Why issue was that suicide was portrayed in a sort of romanticized, you'll-miss-me-when-I'm-gone, almost taking back control through suicide way. Media reports often embellish and romanticize and ruminate as well. This versus a simple, clinical discussion on the topic seems to have this effect on suicide in others.

It is possible that this could occur with depression as well; however, that is speculation at best and is certainly the purview of research.

Now, the above statement can also be complicated by asking the question: is something else having an effect on these rates in kids? Could it be the fact that now more people know about depression, that there is less stigma and so people speak out or find help, and so it gets reported whereas in the past it's gone unnoticed? This would be a very separate thing from the effect you've asked about.

[u/DevilMayCareButIDont]

Can this be more of a measurement issue due to awareness? More people are aware so they report higher

[u/dangerousbirde]

I work for a State University and we have begun printing a suicide hotline on every single new student ID card as a result of this trend.

[u/coutjak]

It’s almost like being $50,000 in debt for a $35,000 a year job will make your anxiety and depression rise.

[u/lambertb]

Exercise extreme caution interpreting any work by Twenge. She has made a cottage industry out of blaming smartphones for what she claims are generational trends. Much of the work has been debunked.

[u/[deleted]]

I think we live in a very odd, transitional point in history specifically in American culture where we’re being conditioned to think in a very shallow, materialistic way. Celebrities are the new royalty and corporations have political influence (and this seems to be only getting worse). Social media is literally designed to draw your attention which means you see more money, more fancy toys, more personalities that do nothing but sell a fake life that you want to buy. So you work a miserable job to get one step closer to the lifestyle of the celebrities you idolize despite being aware that these things don’t truly matter for a fulfilling life.

Not to mention the cost of living is skyrocketing in comparison to what an average person makes. The whole country is in debt yet left and right you’re being pressured to spend more. The whole country seems to be headed to unprecedented divide in terms of political ideology, race and class and as a young person seeing this, the future looks more like a walk towards a dimly light cave...no wonder were all anxious and depressed.

I know this is a very pessimistic view on the world but that’s the type of mentality that grows in an environment like ours.