We need to break the cycle of depression (Editorial)
Depression makes it hard for people to move forward in their lives.
March 13, 2014
Depression is worsening, especially in our generation.
According to new research from the Nuffield Foundation, the experience of teenagers has changed considerably over the last 30-40 years, including a significant increase in the rate of anxiety, depression and behavior problems.
NBC News examined over a 12-year period between 2000 and 2011, finding that more than 936,000 service members had been diagnosed with at least one mental disorder. Of those diagnoses, about 85 percent were cases of adjustment disorders, depression, alcohol abuse and anxiety, among other conditions.
One of the guidance counselors at CHS, Emily McDonald, feels that communication is a major component of this situation.
“There are constant breakdowns in families including divorces, then there’s a major human disconnection because of students being unsociable with the obsession of technology,” said McDonald.
Nuffield Foundation also states, “Family life for teenagers has also changed. Young people in the 2000s are twice as likely to have experienced the divorce of their parents than young people 30 years ago,” which supports McDonald’s statement of constant family issues.
If it’s not school, family, or breaking up with a significant other, there’s always another reason teenagers nowadays find to be depressed. The Nuffield Foundation reports that, “The proportion of 15/16 year olds reporting that they frequently feel anxious or depressed has doubled in the last 30 years, from 1 in 30 to 2 in 30 for boys and 1 in 10 to 2 in ten for girls.”
Depression is increasing rapidly without any signs of stopping.
Perhaps it is the constant misunderstanding of parents, because they are not living through this generation the way we teenagers are. It could also be the lack of socialization in our environment; people are too focused on social media networks and iPhone technology. This needs to change and everybody needs to help so that we can start decreasing these numbers. Society needs to address this so that our generation can have a better outlook on how our future can be.
Jude • Mar 31, 2014 at 9:18 am
There’s a lot more to mental illnesses than lack of communication. Being able to better communicate how we feel would be a good start, that way those that need help could receive it. One of the largest problems I see is the lack of people willing to listen and trying to help others. This means that even when a person does speak up they feel ignored or lost in the crowd. High schoolers are often busy with their own individual issues but everyone needs to get better at paying attention to those around them that are struggling and reaching out to those people. I believe that doing so would make a huge difference. It would also help for people to treat each other better in general to create a more positive enviornment for those who may be struggling with issues at home, with schoolwork, etc.
Communication certainly is an issue but I don’t think it’s the reason why depression seems to have skyrocketed. I don’t think it’s necessarily due to parents having a lack of understanding either. Each generation has its own differences and parents may have felt that their own parents didn’t understand them and so on.
Also, the fact that as technology grows more information about mental illnesses (including depression) is accessable and more well known. This may allow for more diagnosis of these problems so that they can be treated. This would account for part of the increases because someone who may not have been previously diagnosed due to lack of knowledge now would be.
On the opposite side, I also think that there are a lot of misdiagnoses and teenagers being put on medication for problems that they do not have. Often times there are symptoms of certain disorders that can from something else entirely including regular teenage hormones. The ability to distinguish between the two is important because being put on a medication you do not need can be harmful. Then they are put on more medication for a side effect of the medication they were prescribed.
All in all I think there are a lot of different reasons and they require more research and looking into. Only part of the problem is discussed in this article and I think it would be beneficial for students to have more information on the subject of mental illness. Not just text book examples, but accounts from real people that have gone through it as well.
Rikki Buckley • Mar 20, 2014 at 8:26 am
We’re actually talking about mental illness in my Psych class right now, and it isn’t necessarily something that can go away based on communication alone, but it can definitely help!