4 ms·

That wouldn't explain such a drastic rise in one demographic (teenagers)

TylerE 4y ago
Everything has changed. You can’t look at one thing in isolation. Todays teens are not the teens of the Boomer generation. Was t that long enough that many were married by the time they hit 20.
PuppyTailWags 4y ago
It might, since "teenager" is about a decade, and the opening paragraph cites... about a decade ago.
- loup-vaillant 4y ago
  Your argument also applies to toddlers (1-10), Young students & workers (20-30), established workers (30-40)… pretty much any decade actually. So no. It might not. Not for the reason you say at least. Improvements in diagnosis, self awareness and hospitalisation rates would have to happen specifically to teenagers, and unless someone can cite a specific reason why this is the case I just don't believe it. The increase is real.
  - PuppyTailWags 4y ago
    Not necessarily; teenagers are 1) still under parental health insurance and therefore can get medical care, 2) broadly have adults looking out for them in a way adults don't look out for other adults, 3) are capable of self-introspection and increased communication capacity as well as self-identification in a way children are not, 4) have the agency to advocate for their mental health needs in a way children cannot.. Broadly if we are going to respect mental health more, the one cohort that is broadly capable of receiving mental health assessment medically, has enough agency to introspect to their own mental health, and still generally have adults responsible for their wellbeing, aka teenagers, are most likely to reveal this.
    - loup-vaillant 4y ago
      I guess it makes sense… the difference in how much other people are affected however is so stark that this does suggest a generational thing. And then there are the hospitalisation rates. Did we lower the seriousness threshold to get our kids to the hospital? Unless they were talking about psychiatry hospitals that doesn't seem likely.
      - PuppyTailWags 4y ago
        Frankly it might just be that children's desire to kill themselves wasn't considered something to hospitalize for in the past. I knew when I was a teenager I participated in all sorts of nonsense and said all sorts of shit to adults around me, and most of the adults just told me to man up and stop being a pussy about it. Now that I'm an adult, I can see times where I definitely should've been considered to evaluation as a suicide risk.
ilammy 4y ago
Explains it rather well: older people dismiss their symptoms as “not real illness” because that’s what society taught them when they were kids.
- loup-vaillant 4y ago
  Would a decrease in such dismissal would also explain the increase in hospitalisation rates for self harm? I personally doubt it. (Edit: and whoever downvoted me would help a great deal by explaining how exactly an increase in hospitalisation rates are an indication that we take this stuff more seriously. A wound remains a wound.)
  - kbelder 4y ago
    I think it might. I firmly believe that mental issues can be compounded by too much empathy and care. Too much 'awareness'. Sometimes sucking it up is, psychologically, the right answer, and results in a more resilient individual. (Not all the time, perhaps not most of the time. But sometimes.)
- Mordisquitos 4y ago
  To me that seems like a purely post-hoc argument with no evidence to justify it. For instance, imagine that the data were showing the opposite effect, that is, adults having a significantly greater increase in depression and anxiety than teenagers. If that were the case, one could just as easily argue that it fits with the "our societies are so advanced that we can listen to mental illnesses" hypothesis quite well, because adults have the autonomy, resources, and maturity to get the attention they need to tackle their issues and symptoms. Teenagers don't, on the other hand, as they depend on their teachers and guardians and older adults often dismiss kids' symptoms as “not real illness” and just angst and moodiness.
  - frumper 4y ago
    In my experience, adults seem just as quick to dismiss other adults issues as "not real problems"
izzydata 4y ago
Teenagers are yet to be broken in adults who accept things aren't going to change.
onos 4y ago
Nor the sudden increase among this demographic.
bluescrn 4y ago
Take away the social media, and I suspect the teens would have far fewer mental health problems.
- tenebrisalietum 4y ago
  or would they just be less visible and less talked about?
  - ripsawridge 4y ago
    Since social contagion is part of the problem, that would already be an improvement.

Everything has changed. You can’t look at one thing in isolation. Todays teens are not the teens of the Boomer generation. Was t that long enough that many were married by the time they hit 20.

PuppyTailWags 4y ago

It might, since "teenager" is about a decade, and the opening paragraph cites... about a decade ago.

loup-vaillant 4y ago
Your argument also applies to toddlers (1-10), Young students & workers (20-30), established workers (30-40)… pretty much any decade actually. So no. It might not. Not for the reason you say at least. Improvements in diagnosis, self awareness and hospitalisation rates would have to happen specifically to teenagers, and unless someone can cite a specific reason why this is the case I just don't believe it. The increase is real.
- PuppyTailWags 4y ago
  Not necessarily; teenagers are 1) still under parental health insurance and therefore can get medical care, 2) broadly have adults looking out for them in a way adults don't look out for other adults, 3) are capable of self-introspection and increased communication capacity as well as self-identification in a way children are not, 4) have the agency to advocate for their mental health needs in a way children cannot.. Broadly if we are going to respect mental health more, the one cohort that is broadly capable of receiving mental health assessment medically, has enough agency to introspect to their own mental health, and still generally have adults responsible for their wellbeing, aka teenagers, are most likely to reveal this.
  - loup-vaillant 4y ago
    I guess it makes sense… the difference in how much other people are affected however is so stark that this does suggest a generational thing. And then there are the hospitalisation rates. Did we lower the seriousness threshold to get our kids to the hospital? Unless they were talking about psychiatry hospitals that doesn't seem likely.
    - PuppyTailWags 4y ago
      Frankly it might just be that children's desire to kill themselves wasn't considered something to hospitalize for in the past. I knew when I was a teenager I participated in all sorts of nonsense and said all sorts of shit to adults around me, and most of the adults just told me to man up and stop being a pussy about it. Now that I'm an adult, I can see times where I definitely should've been considered to evaluation as a suicide risk.

ilammy 4y ago

Explains it rather well: older people dismiss their symptoms as “not real illness” because that’s what society taught them when they were kids.

loup-vaillant 4y ago
Would a decrease in such dismissal would also explain the increase in hospitalisation rates for self harm? I personally doubt it. (Edit: and whoever downvoted me would help a great deal by explaining how exactly an increase in hospitalisation rates are an indication that we take this stuff more seriously. A wound remains a wound.)
- kbelder 4y ago
  I think it might. I firmly believe that mental issues can be compounded by too much empathy and care. Too much 'awareness'. Sometimes sucking it up is, psychologically, the right answer, and results in a more resilient individual. (Not all the time, perhaps not most of the time. But sometimes.)
Mordisquitos 4y ago
To me that seems like a purely post-hoc argument with no evidence to justify it. For instance, imagine that the data were showing the opposite effect, that is, adults having a significantly greater increase in depression and anxiety than teenagers. If that were the case, one could just as easily argue that it fits with the "our societies are so advanced that we can listen to mental illnesses" hypothesis quite well, because adults have the autonomy, resources, and maturity to get the attention they need to tackle their issues and symptoms. Teenagers don't, on the other hand, as they depend on their teachers and guardians and older adults often dismiss kids' symptoms as “not real illness” and just angst and moodiness.
- frumper 4y ago
  In my experience, adults seem just as quick to dismiss other adults issues as "not real problems"

izzydata 4y ago

Teenagers are yet to be broken in adults who accept things aren't going to change.

onos 4y ago

Nor the sudden increase among this demographic.

bluescrn 4y ago

Take away the social media, and I suspect the teens would have far fewer mental health problems.

tenebrisalietum 4y ago
or would they just be less visible and less talked about?
- ripsawridge 4y ago
  Since social contagion is part of the problem, that would already be an improvement.