Looking at the graphs on the article, what sticks out immediately is two things. Why did the data only start in 2004, that's not a very long range, and where are the error bars. We are reporting statistics here, so we should see some sort of measure of the statistical accuracy shouldn't we?
The teen mental illness epidemic began around 2012
411–420 of 565 posts
Re: The teen mental illness epidemic began around 2012
#412Another 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…
Why is more diagnosis better diagnosis? I hear this constantly, literally every time people point out we might be calling people mentally ill now that we wouldn't have called mentally ill 20 years ago people go "wow we must be diagnosing people better". To me better diagnosis would be reflected in things like the suicide rate dropping, drug abuse falling, general health metrics improving, and so on, not in simply inc…
The best description I've heard of why more diagnosis is better is that as a society we're moving up Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs from level 2 "Safety Needs"
to level 3 "Love and Belonging".
For the first time in history there is psychological space to care about mental health and social issues en mass. So, of course, there's going to be an explosion of diagnosis.
Re: The teen mental illness epidemic began around 2012
#413My daughter hit her teens in2012. It was a horrible couple of years not just for her but from about 8th grade up. Our HS had a suicide wave. Many attepts (my daughter being one) and quite a few of those attempts were successful later. Thankfully my child responded well to therapy. This was in a high competitive HS IN NORTHERN VA. My thoughts on factors: Crazy parents pushing kids to try and get in TJ who had no busin…
I taught at the high school level for about ten years before shifting into tech. I was always astounded by the level of devotion many families had toward traveling sports (notably hockey up here in Minnesota). Outside of truly elite athletic pipelines, I honestly believe competitive youth sports have gotten completely out of hand. Here’s to hoping my son grows up to be a mediocre athlete.
It has. Everyone’s kid now is a future pro millionaire. Our family has a decent few pro football (american) and baseball players and we have always played high level sports. My deal with the kids was always you play what you want at the level you want. If its not fun pick something else. I think sports are important. 2 of my kids did very well with soccer (college scholarship level) my youngest said nah. She danced and worked at the pet shelter :)
Re: The teen mental illness epidemic began around 2012
#414Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you seriously suggesting it's a good idea to kill off a bunch of folks? Let me guess, you are in the group that gets to survive, and you just want to provide a "solution" to all the people that you dislike. I have a better idea: lead by example. Why don't you demonstrate the effectiveness of removing a bad branch on yourself first?
>folks You illustrated his point.
What do you mean?
Re: The teen mental illness epidemic began around 2012
#415Earlier quoted context omitted.
The parent comment was asserting that STEM types are “high anxiety” and implicitly dismissing non-STEM people as somehow having less anxiety. I think it is fair and healthy to acknowledge that, as you say, everyone has “the worst stress of their life”, regardless of STEM-ness.
I interpreted the comment differently. I thought it was saying that the pressures and anxieties of 'high anxiety' STEM people are not necessarily representative of the average person's experience. I.e. saying that the readers of hacker news are more likely to feel the stresses of feeling the need to be hyper successful, whereas others migh on average be more well adjusted
This is what I meant indeed
Re: The teen mental illness epidemic began around 2012
#416Digital society sucks, and to a degree modern society in general.
There used to be religion, which you may dislike, but it offered social bonding at scale. You'd get to known an entire community, neighborhood, might make new friends or even find a spouse. Learn about people hobbies and form sub communities.
Or you go to school. Or to work, where before globalization you'd have a stable local team that you'd get to know very deeply. Or you may go to a bar, a hobby club, and attend public places for shopping, entertainment, whichever.
Now you wake up and the first thing you do is check your phone. Next, you may learn or work remotely, sitting alone, watching a screen breathing low quality air. You don't go to a store, you use delivery. You use your little work breaks to watch another screen, the smartphone. After dinner, there's more screen time. Passive entertainment, doomscrolling or interacting with a "community", weird little avatars on a screen.
You don't even have a relation with objects either. In the digital world, you don't really own anything. There's no stability. It's all fleeting, flexible, disrupted, empty. That's increasingly the dominant lifestyle: void.
The world is entirely financialized, hence you don't really live in a society, it's performance culture. You're expected to juggle 10 balls from an early age, which are life's "expectations". It offers no time for discovery, play or recovery. You need to check the damn boxes. The reward of mastering the boxes is that well actually...you still can't afford a basic middle class existence. The financial system constantly rug-pulls you whilst technology constantly disrupts your relevance.
Am I dramatizing? Yes, somewhat. But I sincerely mean it when I say that life used to better. We lost a lot.
Re: The teen mental illness epidemic began around 2012
#417I suspect this trend will continue for at least another generation. And I don't believe it's restricted to teens; they're merely the most prominent examples.
The explanation I heard that strongly resonated with me was that, as a society, we're moving up Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs from level 2, "Safety Needs," to level 3, "Love and Belonging."
When I read descriptions of life in the early 20th century, it's nearly impossible for me to connect with it because even the poorest people I've met have a standard of living that's nearly unimaginable to someone from 1910. People who grew up in the 1950-1970s saw this change happening, but going from neglecting a thing to caring about it is almost certainly a lagging indicator.
For the first time in history, there is psychological space to care about mental health and social issues en mass. So, of course, there's going to be an explosion of diagnoses and an apparent epidemic.
Couple this with the dawn of social media, and you've accelerated the trend 10x as we figure out how the hell to handle it responsibly.
Re: The teen mental illness epidemic began around 2012
#418My daughter hit her teens in2012. It was a horrible couple of years not just for her but from about 8th grade up. Our HS had a suicide wave. Many attepts (my daughter being one) and quite a few of those attempts were successful later. Thankfully my child responded well to therapy. This was in a high competitive HS IN NORTHERN VA. My thoughts on factors: Crazy parents pushing kids to try and get in TJ who had no busin…
It’s so weird that so many people ruin the happiness in their lives trying to compete for a spot at an elite university so they can get in the fast lane to making money for a corporation as a VP or something. And for what? So they can have a bigger house or “better” vacations? Why don’t we push kids to find happiness in whatever they do and that living in a bungalow in a working class area and driving used cars doesn…
Its all superficial competition. As a society we have made it so if you dont make x dollars youre a failure. I do think the pandemic opened a lot of eyes to change though.
Also the push for college or youre a failure and will never get a job has been supremely harmful to kids via debt and a myriad other issues.
Re: The teen mental illness epidemic began around 2012
#419Earlier quoted context omitted.
I taught at the high school level for about ten years before shifting into tech. I was always astounded by the level of devotion many families had toward traveling sports (notably hockey up here in Minnesota). Outside of truly elite athletic pipelines, I honestly believe competitive youth sports have gotten completely out of hand. Here’s to hoping my son grows up to be a mediocre athlete.
My brother recently retired after a career (~18-38ish) as a professional basketball player. It worked for him and there were opportunities to leverage contacts for employment after sport. But that was a 15+ year career. Anything too far short of that is a risk, IMO. Watching many of his peers defer tertiary study, or forgo jobs for training roles, or be out of the league after a few underpaid years while contemporari…
Awesome for him. Parents dont want to hear what .000001 % actually have a chance to go pro? Every year after the season we always asked if they were still having fun. To us it was good skill building. Social,fitness, how to lose etc.
Re: The teen mental illness epidemic began around 2012
#4202012 was Sandy Hook; teens today and since have been watching the inaction of experts and leadership tackle security problems in deference to appeals to authority to dead people's political documents.
They're watching experts and leaders to nothing to stem environmental mess they get to clean up.
They watch the adults complain kids are coddled, then flip a switch and complain social media is exposing them to the world.
They're sick of the cognitive dissonance of the elders who prefer the clean room, fake figurative world of fiat economics they live in while fucking over the real world teens will inherit.
Similar to increased cancer rates being linked to better measurement, it's not social media, it's that social media is allowing teens to see how shitty their society is.