by Liz Smith
There was a study done recently where it was determined that the average high school student today has the same stress levels as a psychiatric patient from the 1960’s.
That was back when medics pretty much abused the patients in an attempt to “cure” them.
I completely believe it too.
Technology has made certain aspects of our lives so much easier. But it’s added extra stress. Several of those things that we used to do that have been replaced with technology were physical things.
Being physically active is known to reduce stress. So the added pressure of certain technological advances combined with less physical activity equals more stress.
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And I think too that it’s because we’re becoming more aware of the world we live in.
Older generations complain about us being on our phones all the time but they don’t realize that we have all the information in the world at our fingertips because of our phones.
So we’re becoming more aware of politics and all the horrifying problems of the world, and on top of that more kids are stepping forward about how they really feel about things.
Also with the progression of technology, we as a whole of humankind, are becoming better at detecting and accurately diagnosing mental illnesses. So that could all play into the impression that more young people are depressed and anxious.
It may also have to do with social media!
More teens are getting online and talking about their experiences and people who are or are training to be psychologists are diagnosing them after hearing them out and such.
And building off of the information at our fingertips thing, we are learning more about mental illnesses because we see our friends having these problems and talking about them so openly.
We want to learn more ways to help them, then at the same realizing: “Hey, that sounds like me too!”
“I think I have these feelings, these problems, these issues too!”
Then we look at others who seem not to have these feelings, who look as though they are actually very happy with their lives and it makes the whole situation even worse.
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Granted, self-diagnosis is not always accurate, but it was my suspicions about my anxiety that led me to want to see a professional, who then recognized it and actually diagnosed me officially.
Speaking of, she recently realized I also have mild depression that is probably genetic, since my dad has it too.
We’re finding comfort in our online friends and/or our face-to-face friends and gaining the strength and courage to come out to our parents about our mental illnesses and such.
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Parents may then want to help and get help for their children, or completely dismiss it.
Which is another possible source — our parents.
We have parents who raise us the way they were raised or try so hard to not raise us the way they were raised and go a little overboard, and both can cause issues.
You may have parents who are unintentionally causing these issues, or you may have ones who aren’t the cause but don’t recognize the issues as they start, or think their kids are just blaming them when they try to talk about getting help.
They will avoid having such discussions with their kids and this will only make matters worse.
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In some cases it could also be genetic, so you could have parents with depression, anxiety or other mental illnesses in their family history that are combining in their children and resulting in the child being so messed up it has to be recognized!
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Liz Smith
Jack of all trades, master of some.
I love cooking, crafting, herbalism and trivia!
I was a preschool teacher for 10 years, now I’m studying to become a Registered Health Information Technician.
