Opinion | Our Obsession With Wellness Is Hurting Teens — and Adults
The information is evident: Ranges of hysteria, despair, self-harm and suicide have spiked for American youngsters during the last decade. Final Friday’s episode with the psychologist Jean Twenge sifted by way of that knowledge to uncover each the size of the disaster and its attainable causes. Right now’s episode focuses on the experiences behind that knowledge: the people who’re struggling, and what we are able to do as mates, dad and mom and a broader society to assist them.
Lisa Damour is a medical psychologist, the co-host of the podcast “Ask Lisa” and the writer of books together with “The Emotional Lives of Youngsters: Elevating Related, Succesful and Compassionate Adolescents” and “Below Stress: Confronting the Epidemic of Stress and Nervousness in Women.” Statistics about teenage psychological well being are illuminating, however Damour has spent many years working carefully with teenagers, permitting her to fill in a number of the gaps in that knowledge and provides a nuanced image of what could also be occurring. She has emerged from her medical expertise extra hopeful in regards to the prospects for serving to teenagers by way of a life stage — and a second in historical past — that poses critical challenges to their well-being.
[You can listen to this episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google or wherever you get your podcasts.]
We talk about the neuroscience behind why being an adolescent is so emotionally tough, why Damour doesn’t imagine smartphones are primarily responsible for the teenager psychological well being disaster, how overscheduling teenagers can harm their social growth, why women expertise extra anxiousness than boys whilst they outperform boys at school, which sorts of smartphone use may be good and dangerous for younger folks, the issues with the cultural perception that stress and anxiousness needs to be eradicated in any respect prices, inform the distinction between dangerous and wholesome anxiousness, how dad and mom ought to strategy social media use with their youngsters, how all of us will help each other deal with unfavorable feelings and extra.
You possibly can hearken to our complete dialog by following “The Ezra Klein Present” on Apple, Spotify, Google or wherever you get your podcasts. View a listing of guide suggestions from our friends right here.
(A full transcript of the episode shall be accessible noon on the Occasions web site.)
This episode of “The Ezra Klein Present” was produced by Annie Galvin. Reality checking by Mary Marge Locker and Kate Sinclair. Mixing by Jeff Geld. Our manufacturing staff is Emefa Agawu, Jeff Geld, Roge Karma and Kristin Lin. Unique music by Isaac Jones. Viewers technique by Shannon Busta. The chief producer of New York Occasions Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. Particular due to Sonia Herrero and Kristina Samulewski.
