Staff Writer

About Generation Next

Generation Next is a social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people.

The Psychological Core of Unethical, Anti-Social People

None of us are perfect, and all of us occasionally do things that hurt other people. But, some people do things that hurt other people far more often, and with far more serious consequences, than the rest of us do. Psychologists have been interested for many years in understanding people who regularly harm other people [...]

Ten Ways to Potentially End Depression Through Diet

It would be foolish to believe that depression can be overcome with a single solution. But for some people, the light at the end of the tunnel shines in a very surprising place. It certainly did for me. Healing my depression came with healing my gastrointestinal tract—my gut. When I became a nutrition student in [...]

By |2021-03-02T17:02:28+11:00August 27th, 2018|Categories: Depression, Mental Health & Wellbeing|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

Sex, Drugs and Self-Control

Cole Skinner was hanging from a wall above an abandoned quarry when he heard a car pull up. He and his friends bolted, racing along a narrow path on the quarry’s edge and hopping over a barbed-wire fence to exit the grounds. The chase is part of the fun for Skinner and his friend Alex [...]

By |2018-08-27T17:06:47+10:00August 27th, 2018|Categories: Mental Health & Wellbeing|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

Let Kids Play

The most famous painting of children at play is “Children’s Games,” the 1560 work by Pieter Bruegel the Elder of a town square in which children from toddlers to adolescents (scholars have counted 246) are playing a range of timeless games. There are dolls and marbles and tiddlywinks, ball games and climbing games and riding [...]

Online Suicide and the Dark Psychology of Internet Insult Forums

Leon Jenkins was 43 when he took his own life in July 2018. He livestreamed his suicide on an internet forum where users can freely – and viciously – insult, berate, provoke and abuse each other. The idea is to make people leave the site when they can take no more. Gregory Tomkins and Kevin [...]

By |2021-03-02T17:02:45+11:00August 27th, 2018|Categories: Depression, Mental Illness, Suicide|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

‘We Are All Accumulating Mountains of Things’

It’s easier than ever to buy things online. It’s so easy that Ryan Cassata sometimes does it in his sleep. Cassata, a 24-year-old singer-songwriter and actor from Los Angeles, recently got a notification from Amazon that a package had been shipped to his apartment, but he didn’t remember buying anything. When he logged onto his [...]

By |2021-03-02T17:03:21+11:00August 27th, 2018|Categories: Mental Illness|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

The Isolating Life of Parenting a Potential Psychopath

Parenting a child with conduct disorder is the loneliest thing I know. Conduct disorder (CD) is a diagnosis given to children who have an ongoing pattern of troubling antisocial behavior. The definitions are all very wordy—but the simple version is that a child who gets this diagnosis might grow up to be a psychopath. When [...]

By |2021-03-02T17:03:46+11:00August 27th, 2018|Categories: Mental Illness|Tags: , , , |0 Comments

Playtime May Bolster Kids’ Mental Health

“Play has become a four-letter word.” So says Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, a psychologist at Temple University and one of the authors of a new paper about the importance of play in children’s lives. The clinical report, published by the American Academy of Pediatrics, recommends that pediatricians write a “prescription for play” at doctor visits in the [...]

7 Ways to Talk to Teenagers About Mental Health

As it's revealed one in ten young people will experience mental health problems before they turn 16, experts say it's vital for mum and dad to reach out to their youngsters One in ten young people experiences a mental health problem before they turn 16. Jo Loughran, director of the charity Time To Change, shares [...]

‘My brain goes insane’: The rise and rise of mental illness among Kiwi teens

In a split second, her body would heat up. Her eyesight would start to go, leaving her with tunnel vision. And, if she wasn't careful, she would start to hyperventilate. As she sat in the classroom of her Taranaki high school, 17-year-old Nuutea Itchner's anxiety would render her mute and she would be unable to [...]

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