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The teen mental illness epidemic began around 2012

jonathanhaidt.substack.com

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Re: The teen mental illness epidemic began around 2012

#41

Post by Mountain_Skies »

Another random possibility: the social aftermath of Occupy Wall Street (late 2011), where global corporate interests found it very useful to pit the 99% against each other through endless support of smaller and smaller atomized groups that are told it's the highest virtue the hate each other (but pretend it's not hate... "we're against hate, honestly we are, just look at our manufactured PR slogans on our websites!").

Children, being impressionable and the next generation, were especially heavily targeted by the media and big tech. Social cliques have always existed amongst the young, but those mostly developed organically. Now children are being victimized by companies worth hundreds of billions to ensure the kids don't grow up to be a threat to the corporate dominance of society and finance.

Re: The teen mental illness epidemic began around 2012

#43

Post by kayodelycaon »

willcipriano wrote: post #6
brodouevencode wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The increase in suicide rates for both genders (but especially females) are astounding. I really don't believe that any changes in treatment have been so radical as to cause this to manifest the way it has.

Tell someone with an issue with their physical condition that it is because of diet and lack of exercise and many would change habits, tell them it's due to a incurable but perhaps treatable cancer and some will chose suicide. Tell kids that they are unhappy due to choices made in day to day life and they might change those choices, tell them it's due to a incurable but maybe treatable issue with their brain and some…

That's not how this works. Having a reason for why you are struggling so badly is a relief.

Your problem now has a name and it's not your fault. Having a name opens up a lot of support and treatment options. This gives you hope that your suffering isn't endless and infinite.

You may not be able to be cured, but you can have a much better life.

Re: The teen mental illness epidemic began around 2012

#45

Post by profstasiak »

Mountain_Skies wrote: post #41

Another random possibility: the social aftermath of Occupy Wall Street (late 2011), where global corporate interests found it very useful to pit the 99% against each other through endless support of smaller and smaller atomized groups that are told it's the highest virtue the hate each other (but pretend it's not hate... "we're against hate, honestly we are, just look at our manufactured PR slogans on our websites!")…

do you have any hint of evidence? Don't you think, people on HN would spill the beans? We found out from Snowden what the CIA is capable of, wouldn't someone working at big tech notice?

Re: The teen mental illness epidemic began around 2012

#46

Post by righttoolforjob »

benrhodesuk wrote: post #37

While I don't doubt that social media can have a negative impact on teens... my own experience as the parent of a teen is slightly different and doesn't point to social media as being a driver. At least in my case. I have a teenager that struggles with anxiety, low self-esteem and depression. He's incredibly smart and is an honors student in high school. BUT he also thinks he's terrible and he's incapable of acceptin…

Consuming is the worst. The Internet is a toxic cesspool, for the most part. Having an account and interacting with friends would be one of the few exceptions, and maybe learning some stuff now and then.

Re: The teen mental illness epidemic began around 2012

#48

Post by lostlogin »

banannaise wrote: post #23

All the things he cites are lagging indicators. Self-harm and suicide typically follow long, long battles with mental health issues; they're not the first thing that happens, or even close. Diagnoses are also typically far from immediate; having depression and being diagnosed with depression are two very different things. (And without increased awareness, many people never get care and are never diagnosed.) As such,…

How does that apply to children though? They haven’t got a lot of time that’s earlier as they would be too young. Additionally, a key part of a child’s behaviour is that it’s impulsive.

Re: The teen mental illness epidemic began around 2012

#49

Post by arp242 »

goodpoint wrote: post #26
arp242 wrote: post #2

Another possible explanation is that we are simply diagnosing these kind of mental health issues better – due to decrease in stigmatization and/or more attention to it – but that our treatment is worse than doing nothing, and is leading to higher rates of self-harm and suicide. I have no idea if that's the case – and if it is a factor at all it probably doesn't account for all of it – but it seems something worth exp…

> I benefited more from the occasional swift kick in the backside and being told to "man up" Practically you are saying that pedagogy and psychology are wrong and harmful on a fundamental level. Either you are in denial or a whole field of science is wrong.

No, that is not what I said. Aside from that fact that these two fields are hardly exact sciences and have different schools of thought with large fundamental disagreements, I never said that all of psychology is bad. I specifically said "Not that counsellors are bad, but sometimes [...]".

In my specific case it didn't help and was more harmful than helpful. For other people it is helpful. n=1 but I'm probably not a very special individual, so situations similar to mine probably apply to other people as well, although I have no idea how many exactly, or if this number has been increasing or decreasing.

Re: The teen mental illness epidemic began around 2012

#50

Post by shrimp_emoji »

notch898a wrote: post #13
xwolfi wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure of the value of this tidbit but I heard that in the US, blacks suicided a lot less than whites (quick google seems to say rate of black suicide is a third of white) and it could be because they grow up explaining their issues with external factors, while the whites have no convenient escapes, and even are told they are privileged due to their skin color... so self blame. Really flimsy, I am not an expert but…

I would offer the really flimsy statement most blacks in US are descendants of slaves, who were bred for generations to be optimized for unskilled labor that was given very little mental and health support which meant anyone slightly suicidal just killed themselves off. Slavery is pretty stressful. Society tends to want to ignore the fact the colonists and early Americans literally bred slaves under stressful conditi…

I think a more plausible theory is that white people feel more entitlement than black people, not because of some weird genetic memory thing but because they see other white people (or maybe even their parents or great-grandparents) enjoy much higher success than they are. Higher expectations = more pain from shitty circumstances = worse reactions.
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