I 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. T

I 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.