Our mental health has suffered over the past 80 years. The causes are complex,but it’s exhausting to live in a society where asking for help equals failureAnxiety and depression are isolating illnesses, but sufferers are hardly alone: according to a new book, and the number of young Americans who’ve struggled with these mental health issues over the final 80 years has increased steadily. Sociologist Jean Twenge,the author of Generation Me: Why nowadays’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, and Entitled – and More depressing Than Ever Before,told New York magazine this week that her research had led her to conclude that “contemporary life is not good for mental health”. By measuring the frequency of symptoms associated with anxiety and depression poor sleep, memory problems, and concentration problems,and difficulty learning – Twenge came to believe that our forefathers and mothers were much happier that we are nowadays. Or, at least, or that they were less depressed and anxious. Related: Mental illness is a result of distress,yet still we stigmatise it | Richard Bentall Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com