There has always been a generation gap that has vexed many an older person as they struggle to comprehend what’s going on in the minds of young people. But now there is broadening acceptance amongst experts and clinicians alike, that there is something more serious happening this time.
The mental health crisis engulfing our young people has come to the forefront of national attention. Is this a new problem or have young people always been a bit mentally unhinged? The scientific data seems to indicate that in fact the mental wellbeing of young people has been slowly but steadily declining over the past several decades.
Something has declared war on the psyche of our young people. The enemy is invisible and yet its casualties are everywhere. It has claimed the lives of many, killing some and leaving others devoid of the prospects of fulfilling their lives, a kind of spiritual death that no parent would want for their child.
A recent analysis of more than 50 years of mental health data collected on US university students, for example, shows that their mental health has been in a steady decline since the late 1950s. As mental health declines in a group of people, the proportion that become so unwell that they need professional help increases. Thus we are seeing so many more young people turning up in our clinics, counselling sessions and hospitals seeking assistance for mental health issues or the immediate consequences of them.
Interestingly, while the data indicates a steady decline in young people’s wellbeing over the decades, there are some researchers who feel that the average IQ has increased markedly over roughly the same period of time. If this is true, it is even more concerning that the potential of the current younger generation may be frustrated by the looming challenges to their mental health.
So do you think it is a co-incidence that youth mental health is declining since mother’s started seeking (outside) employment en masse? The role of the mother is so undervalued and misunderstood. The time spent at home (with and for the family) is crucial to the mental health of society. It can be the father at home also, but someone needs to be there for the home and family in a fairly full-time way.
Who is monitoring the children’s emotional wellbeing or attending to them, if no-one is at home? Or when they are at home they are time poor, and need support.
If we look at countries where the extended family are there for support, for example, some of the Asian countries, we see very little mental health issues with their adolescents, compared to Australia. Professor Mark Dadds of UNSW Director of Child Behavior Research wrote a paper about mental health in young people which stressed the importance of parenting programs. The role of the homemaker is greatly undervalued.
Hi Johanna
i fully agree with your perspective. Several decades ago the importance of extended family was widely recognised, however as we have progressed emphasis shifted to the nuclear family, and now the single parent family. As parents must work harder than ever before to put food on the table, if not meet the expectations of our aspirational culture, there are less influential adults available to nurture and mentor our young people.
ramesh
How can an article on the decline in metal health over the past few decades fail to mention the explosion in the use of psychotropic medications in young people in that time. Dr Ramesh Manocha must be aware of Robert Whitaker’s (2010) ‘Anatomy of an Epidemic’ presenting an alarming expose of the misuse of such medications. Surely a balanced discussion of this issue must take this important factor into account?
Thanks Monique, i appreciate your point however the contribution of inappropriate use of psychotropic medication to overall burden of mental illness is miniscule in comparison to the larger issue of mental dysfunction amongst those that are not receiving any kind of treatment at all. Nevertheless i do appreciate your point. Perhaps this issue can be covered in a future, stand-alone article. Are you aware of any reputable articles on this topic that we could direct readers to?
ramesh
Hi Ramesh, I found your presentation on meditation at last years GN conference to be an inspiration. Thank you. With our medical establishments hearty embrace of policies to prescribe psychostimulants like Ritalin and SSRI antidepressants to young people, I expect there is an abundance of scientific research to closely monitor the outcomes. However, I am struggling to find it and am hoping that you or someone can suggest some. I was hoping you could recommend some reputable articles from scholarly journals not funded by pharmaceutical companies that examine this issue. It is heartening to know that parents who are concerned about any side effects such medications are having on their children can contribute to a forum at the Not For Profit organisation RxISK.org
Monique
Hi Monique
thanks for your positive feedback. Is your request for “scientific research to closely monitor the outcomes” relating to drug treatment of ADHD or meditation?
ramesh
I feel it may have something to do with how often young people are on electronics and it is just getting more frequent. Some young people do not socialise much anymore, or more to the point, do not know how as they are using electronic forms and not getting out socialising anymore. Socialising is not encouraged as much anymore. We didn’t have electronics when we were younger. Facebook and x-box gets media coverage (not always that positive) and yet it is still allowed. Why?
Hi Ruth
i believe that it has a lot to do with the ever growing connection between our idea of democracy and the culture of consumerism. Modern society tells us that we have a democratic right to buy and use “stuff” so long as we pay for it- even if it might not be good for you or the wider community. The “cult of the individual”!
ramesh
1 in 5 people will suffer a mental illness in their lifetime. Most of us will suffer mild to severe bouts of depression throughout our lives. What I take issue over is the willy nilly prescriptions of medications available to doctors to prescribe if we present with a psycho social mental illness and the total lack of responsibility by Doctors for follow up and supports. I was diagnosed with post partum depression when both my children were born 20 years ago, put on prozac for 10 years but never once offered or made to go to counselling or some other such support. A holistic approach is necessary in my opinion. We need to focus more on our youth of today – they are the ones that are really suffering, sometimes in silence. Let’s stop the bullying – then we would have less mental health issues in our young people especially in Australia!!! Bullying starts in the home, goes to the schools and ends up in our workplaces. Shame on you Australia for neglecting to focus on this important issue that will see us lose our brightest hopes for the future – our next generations and our culture as a whole!
Hi Deb
You are very right in pointing out the role of bullying in the development of mental illness in certain circumstances. Is bullying a cause or a manifestation of the youth mental health crisis?
ramesh
Very interesting article that has complex reasons, but some significant social changes have occurred (women working, absent fathers through family divorce and separation, availability of illicit drugs, access to porn and unsupervised electronic devices, spiritual decline). All contribute to lower social capital and community connectedness.
I believe many young people in this generation just do not want to grow up so adolescence is a long process. Sometimes up to 35yrs of age, depending on the book you read ! So people get married later–around 30yrs of age now in Australia, with many young men expressing their ‘manhood’ brawling rather than maturing into healthy relationships and family life.
Schools can’t change quick enough and cater for the challenges and social needs presented either…..So how do we turn this tsunami around??
Would be interesting to compare other cultures that have more experience than us, and learn from them I recon.
Hi Rob
Great points. One of the most important distinctions between modern society and traditional cultures is the emphasis on extended family, respect for elders (not to mention the importance that elders behave respectably), recognition of the importance of education and well-defined value systems that reinforce good parenting, marriage stability etc etc. This is not to say that traditional societies don’t have their problems but we do need to understand what we have lost as a result of our adoption of consumer culture.
ramesh
Bullying is only one cause of the youth mental health crisis which manifests itself into mental health conditions : depression, anxiety, low self esteem etc etc. My son was bullied mercilessly from primary school right through to high school (neither schools dealt with the issuue appropriately – at high school my son was knocked unconscious in the hallway – other students saw it but did not report it to a teacher and no teacher came to his aid). Needless to say that was the last day he attended school. He dropped out after Year 10. He felt so unsafe in the school environment and so unsupported he carried a pocket knife to defend himself!! This is totally outrageous and unacceptable in this modern day. The school’s bullying policy posters were stored under the stairwell in the front office – not even on display!! I should of sued the bastards. My son suffers terrible anxiety because of his experiences and I spend a considerable amount of time supporting him to reengage in society – not an easy road. He has major trust issues and is psychologically scarred for life.
In 2010, Mission Australia released their National Survey of Youth Australians. The top three issues identified by the survey group, in my opinion, highlight some of the causes of the mental health crisis we are facing in this country. According to the report, 31.1% of Australian young people listed ‘body image’ as their major concern. 27.8% listed ‘family conflict’ as their major concern and 27.3% listed ‘coping with stress’ as their major concern. (table 11 on page 13 of the report)
Thanks Matt
For those who are interested, the results of the annual Mission Australia National Survey of Australian Youth can be accessed from the archive below!
http://www.missionaustralia.com.au/document-downloads/youth-survey
This is a complex issue! I’m a teacher and many students tell me they spend most of their home time in their bedrooms in cyber world. Many get their meals and eat it in front of the computer screen.They have swapped face to face communication with their family for known and unknown peers and others. Values are being transmitted at this impressionable age. If our children are speaking mainly to people of their own age there is an absence of wisdom, gained over time and past experience for our young people to absorb. The students I speak to don’t know their parents’ values and they barely associate with their siblings.
This change in the dynamics of family life is a significant concern in the development of our children. They grow up distanced from their parents. They have little understanding of what a family is, and its purpose. They feel a gnawing aloneness that can lead to a sadness and depression. Thankfully this is not all children but the numbers are growing.
About extended family offering support in chilod-rearing in other cultures – I lived in an Asian culture for 10 years. I did notice that adolescent mental health problems exist there too (and very few resources to treat it). We need solid research to quantify the degree of increase in mental health problems wherever we talk about, not just hearsay.
Thanks Lesley
You are right that adolescent mental health issues are on the rise in modern Asian cultures too. However there has been considerable, reliable research conducted in the 1970s mapping out the incidence of mental health issues in various cultures, countries and societies. This seminal research demonstrated some very interesting findings: First, that in general, rural areas are less prone to mental health issues as compared to urban areas; Second, that in general mental health problems, for whatever reason, seemed to be more prevalent in western cultures as compared to their eastern counterparts- using standardised rigorous assessment strategies. For example, the researchers found that the highest rates of “expressed negative emotion” was in urban italy whereas the lowest rates were in rural india. These correlated reliably with the incidence of mental illness.
I think that a good argument can be made that the rising incidence of mental illness in traditional societies, for example in asia, may be attributed to the relatively recent “westernisation” of those societies, the pressures of globalisation, the emergence of consumer culture and all that it entails over the past couple of decades. There is in fact a reasonably good amount of scientific and other evidence to support this perception.
As traditional cultures become more like ours, so too does the pattern and incidence of mental illness.
ramesh
Why should anyone be surprised at the decline in mental health of our young? As adults we have abrogated our responsibilities to our young. Conned by the selfishness which underpins the easygoing anti-authoritarianism of the Sixties, people in the English-speaking West have turned inwards. We have dismantled the structures of parental and school discipline and replaced them with a student-centred model of education. If it’s too hard, you don’t have to do it: we mustn’t trample on their precious self-esteem.If they do something wrong or hurt someone else there are no real consequences. Is it any wonder we have produced a generation of ignorant narcissists? Unfortunately, the world doesn’t give a tinker’s about their self-esteem and when they are confronted with this ugly fact, they curl up into the foetal position and blame someone else. The false consciousness that this engenders is at the heart of their malaise. By abandoning censorship we have given unfettered access to our children’s minds to the peddlers of crap. If we were as concerned about what is going into our kids’ minds as we are about their stomachs then MTV and its soft-core porn would be banned, those moronic US sitcoms like the Simpsons and Two and a Half men, where small children being rude to their elders is construed as ‘cute’ and humorous would likewise be banned and 24-hr t.v would be banned. Unfortunately there are too many rich corporate vested interests who make a lot of money out of presenting a perverse world-view to our children as ‘normal’. By adopting the erroneous doctrine of ‘moral relativism’ we have abrogated our responsibilty to teach right from wrong and thus left our children floundering in a world of false values. For heaven’s sake, how could any society that really cared about its children allow someone like Eminem to spread his foul-mouthed filth or for amoral tarts like Kim Kardashian to become role models for our girls? The fact is that we have become decadent and unless we take back the right to bring up our children then we will reap the whirlwind. Unfortunately, Big Pharma stands to make a lot of money out of our kids’ misery.