I had a meeting arranged with one of my undergraduate students for 10am last Friday. At around 9.30 I received an email from her saying that since she was “struggling with [her] mental health” she wouldn’t be able to physically come to the building. It would be “too much”. So could we please have the meeting via Zoom instead?
This kind of thing has become completely normal. Vast swathes of students have diagnoses of ADHD or the ubiquitous ‘anxiety and depression’; the rest, who don’t, still feel no compunction in disclosing their ‘struggles’ at the drop of a hat. Working around these issues is now simply a fact of life for academics. We confront them literally on a daily basis.
Debate around the mental health crisis among the young tends to bifurcate into two camps – which, unusually in our times, doesn’t tend to cleave neatly to the political Left or Right. On the one hand, there are those who think it is real and that the conditions young people grow up in (too much screen time, too little socialising, too much pressure in school, family breakdown, consumer capitalism, structural racism or sexism, worries about climate change, take your pick) are conducive to bad mental health. On the other there are those who think the issue is overblown and probably a matter of overdiagnosis (either because adults are too soft or because of financial incentives for child psychologists and doctors and ultimately ‘Big Pharma’).
To my eye, there is no doubt that young people generally have objectively worse lives on average than those of my generation (I came of age in the late 90s). I of course generalise, but: they spend way too much time on their phones and sat in front of screens; they are inadequately socialised; they don’t get outside enough; too many of them come from broken homes or single parent families; society has become much too cut-throat and wealth-obsessed; they are under huge pressure to look good and say the right things at all times; they depend too much on passive forms of entertainment and they don’t seem to have hobbies. The day-to-day experience of life, in other words, is for a lot of them just a bit shit – and who wouldn’t be depressed in those circumstances?
But on the other hand the incentives all now seem to point in the same direction. Getting a diagnosis for ‘anxiety’, for instance, is ludicrously easy, and once you have it, doors are simply opened for you (at my institution, for instance, if you suffer from this ‘condition’ – I thought it was a normal human emotion – you automatically get 25% more time when sitting an exam). And if you don’t fancy coming to campus because it’s raining or you’ve got a hangover, ‘struggling with my mental health’ is a readymade excuse that nobody can really inquire into – the 2023 equivalent of ‘my grandma died’. To what extent the crisis is real or fake is therefore difficult to answer. It’s both.
In a sense, though, the cause is irrelevant, because the fact remains: we have an entire generation now – really anybody under the age of 25 – which seems to think a) that mental health problems are common, b) that having one is a legitimate reason either to avoid doing something undesirable or to receive special treatment of some kind, and c) that it’s wrong to ‘judge’ or stigmatise anybody if he or she suffers from such a problem. And the effect of those beliefs is the same, however sincerely they are held: avoidance of responsibility; self-centredness and navel-gazing; excuse-making and shoddiness. Each year a growing number of undergraduate students on my course don’t sit their final exam in May, when they should, but during the re-sit period in August, because their mental health issues are purportedly so crippling. Does it matter whether this is because they are just pretending and want a few more months to revise, or because they are genuinely in dire mental straits? At the sharp end, the consequences are identical.
One used to be able to convince oneself that kids would grow out of this kind of thing once they entered the ‘real world’ of employment – just as one used to be able to convince oneself that they would grow out of being woke when surrounded by real adults. The truth is that the opposite is happening: society is being forced not just to accommodate but to encourage the eccentricities of the young. Hence my institution and its 25% exam extension bonus for the anxious, and every employer on LinkedIn advertising its ‘duvet days’ and ‘mental health afternoons’ and therapeutic working environments. What’s worse is that the grown adults, who have no excuse because they were raised in the good old days of the stiff upper lip, are getting in on the act. Last year, when a student at my institution unfortunately died, the other students in his various seminar groups (who barely knew him) were encouraged to apply for extensions to the submission deadlines for their coursework by their 40-something module tutor on the basis that “I’m sure you guys are struggling”. The same staff member later himself went off work for four months (at full pay, of course) with that other favourite, ‘stress’.
I don’t therefore believe that a solution can be found to this issue now; these attitudes are ingrained and almost universal among younger people (though I am aware, of course, that there are plenty of exceptions) and, as I have suggested, are even infecting the old. I’m afraid we are simply going to have to watch a vast experiment unfold – the political and cultural consequences that follow when, for the first time in human history, the majority of society describes itself as suffering from a mental health problem and deploys it as a ‘get out of jail free’ card at the drop of a hat. When, indeed (consider the absurdity of the times in which we live!), having an abnormally low mood has become normal. And when this condition is at its rifest among the professional classes – doctors, teachers, lawyers, accountants, architects, civil servants – who have graduated from university and basically run society. The only advice I can give is to hold on to your hat – because things are about to get interesting, and not in a good way.
Busqueros is a pseudonym.
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What chance do these young folks have?
Second, probably 3rd generation since Blair’s tide of political correctness destroyed Britain’s Christian traditions, they get all their information from Big Tech, indoctrinated in wokism, green fear.
The cure is the Gospel, the power of God for salvation, and something I pray for often.
Amen brother. ‘Let your hearts not be troubled….’ When pagan weather worship, viruses and mindless entertainment replace reality and truth, the demon’s get busy.
You’re not wrong, Neil. Christianity places one’s centre outside oneself – your identity is found in Christ, and your concern is directed to others. Paradoxically the self prospers under those circumstances.
The focus on autonomy leaves each individual struggling to define himself/herself, and the societal stress on mental health (not least from the Royal Family) reminds them that they are bound to fail. The proof of the pudding is that the more mental health facilities there are, the more mental health issues there are (not to mention the inevitable inability of the facilities to keep up with demand during COVID etc).
A parallel is the collapse of sexual health, in every way, the more sex education has been provided in order to guarante “sexual health.”
“…your identity is found in Christ, and your concern is directed to others.”
Like, my wife and children. Family. My employer. My neighbour.
I don’t need no imaginary friend, brother.
The younger generation clearly do, though, which was my only point.
They need friends in the real world. Girlfriends, boyfriends, you know, usual stuff. Not imaginary friends, either of the tiktok variety or any other type.
And the epidemic of pan-relationship breakdown can be readily traced to the increased insistence down the years that “authenticity” is only to be found in the self. The fact that nature in many cases overcomes social conditioning is hardly surprising, but when 40% of US students identify as not embracing “the usual stuff” something has gone very wrong indeed.
But since the Enlightenment that conditioning has included the dogma that leads to the supercilious “imaginary friend” tropes that fly in the face of the experience of most of the human race, but seek to mock it.
The experience of most of the human race was for at least two years that COVID-19 was/is a deadly pandemic. Be careful when you ally yourself to the majority.
No. The light shines from within, don’t look to false idols for salvation. I believe this was Jesus of Nazareth’s message, and if he were alive today he would be dismayed to find that he’d been turned into a false idol. He was a human, telling you to find freedom. It’s the man in the mirror, friend. The man in the mirror.
As a matter of pure interest, when did you last study Jesus of Nazareth’s message, because I haven’t found what you say in his teaching over the last 58 years? I did find that teaching on a Jethro Tull album, but as a scholar I don’t find that solid evidence.
And if he weren’t alive today, I wouldn’t bother with his teaching at all as he would have proven himself a liar.
Jesus of Nazareth has been demonstrably dead for almost 2,000 years already, I am not sure how he could be teaching you or anybody anything over just the last 58!
That contentious assertion is the one at issue, of course. But it was settled for those who followed Jesus’s teaching by the time the letter to the Galatians was written, some eighteen years after the crucifixion.
I’d still like a source for the revised Jethro Tull reading of his teaching, though. Scepticism, I’ve always felt, requires evidence, not mere assertion.
You have evidence for the resurrection?!
Of course I have heard of Jethro Tull but I know nothing about what he has said/sung/written about anything.
I am happy to admit that my opinions about what Jesus of Nazareth’s true message was are just that – opinions. I am not dogmatic.
During the Covid experience I found the people who were the most resilient and steadfast were people of faith. Not pointing to any particular religious administration here, but people who were guided by scripture, and had a strong moral compass.
I’m not religious myself, but have to say I’m impressed by people who have genuine faith and who show consideration for others.
It seems our modern society is so shallow and self-centred – are there forces deliberately conspiring to bring people down?
Look at media such as the Daily Mail, with its constant diet of crass celebrity culture, cosmetic surgery, a stream of people taking selfies. And television with repeat after repeat of depressing crime/police dramas, and abysmal ‘reality’ programs etc.
Where is the uplifting programming encouraging people to live a virtuous life? (Not virtue-signalling and wokeism…)
So many people have lost touch with the natural, and we’re all awash in the digital age.
There are of course many benefits of the digital era, but not when it’s being dominated by malevolent forces.
We seem to be in steep decline and fall…is there any way to turn this around?
A good stint in the f#=king army would do them more good that church!
Yet it was my Pastor’s army experience (including a stint in Afghanistan) that led him to seek and find God.
And my grandfather’s 4 years on the Western Front (West Kent Regiment) left him with 70 years of post-traumatic damage, from which he only found peace, through God, in his final illness.
Life is never simple, is it?
These kids need a more sturdy grounding in reality, mainly from parents, its not all about a shoulder to cry on! Spare the rod and spoil the child.
(I won’t get into religion, your belief in whatever god is in your head alone, and should remain there, never to be pushed onto others! That’s caused countless wars through out history!)
That’s quite funny that you should quote the Bible ( ‘spare the rod…’ ) and then say you ‘won’t get into religion’!
I ain’t a fan of military conscription. Turns the bad guys evil and the good guys into drunkards.
Professional soldiers is where it’s at.
Interestingly, Grandad was a professional. Signed up early 1918 as a volunteer. As was Great Uncle Jack, killed in the BEF that October. The Ukraine experience shows that professional armies get depleted pretty rapidly in wars of attrition. I guess in an ideal world that would make everyone pack up and go home, but we’re in the real world.
Amen. As I like to say, conscription is a Machiavellian solution in search of a problem.
A society, nay, a civilisation, that loses God is doomed. History shows that. A unifying belief shattered, and now everyone is their own God.
What’s your definition of ‘God’?
Good question, godknowsimgood.
“There are thousands of gods, but have no fear – yours is the best!”
Sorry, Cobblers! Animals don’t need God’s and they get on alright, keeping the balance of nature not God!
I’m done with this silly string.
Agreed, me too! Don’t do dogma either.
My karma ran over my dogma.
Interesting and depressing. Author’s analysis is spot on – these people are basically losers – told to be losers by state education, media and ‘influencers’. As he says they spend way too much time in the virtual world, ‘study’ horseshit courses, have low self esteem, few hobbies, few interests, not many have done any real work and most come from broken or indifferent families. Well done ‘modern world’, ‘the age of ‘science” etc.
The author does not mention climate b.s. or the rona fascism – it is pretty clear that the fascists that run our world are targeting young people with ‘crises’. The woman who won’t go in person to see this prof suffers from being a Rona retard – terrified of the world and viruses (if they exist).
I read yesterday that a majority of Dutch women don’t want to give birth in order to save Gaia – the pop there is 15 million, 1/2 the size of Shanghai. That kind of f*ing stupid is special and is from indoctrination + the inability to think.
U 25s are a mentally ill lot – many of the Tranny’s or women with penises spring from this cohort, not all, but many.
Who promised them life would be easy?
I’ve been through enough in my time but my parents and previous generations lived through wars and poverty! and many, who didn’t hit the jackpot by being born in a modern western county, still do.
God help them!
I’m a late Baby Boomer. I had a very similar childhood to the one my mother experienced: largely free range and out of the house much of the time with friends; warned about dangers but trusted not to get into trouble and slightly scared of being found out doing something I shouldn’t; encouraged to “do my best” but not put under too much pressure to achieve.
Compared to today, we didn’t have many material possessions, either as a family or individually. We got a small family car when I was about age 7; for periods we didn’t have a TV because it had broken and they either couldn’t afford or didn’t bother to replace it; we had no family telephone until I was in my mid-teens.
But we were happy. My mother was around most of the time – just getting a little part-time job when I was about 10.
I did my best to give my two sons a similar upbringing. The only difference being, I did it as a single mum since my husband absented himself when they were very young. They are confident; successful; happy.
The problem with today’s snowflake generation started when the Government effectively forced mothers to return to work and put their very young children into (often) poor quality childcare and then proceeded to both molly-coddle and indoctrinate them throughout their formative years.
They have had no anchors in their lives and no resilience.
Spot on RTSC!
Dad goes to work and mums stays home to look after the kids. I know that sounds old fashioned but I’m glad it was the way I was brought up, grounded in reality!
Just as today, all kids seem to have some kind of allergy! I cannot even remember any of my schoolmates ever mentioning nut or lactose allergies etc it just didn’t happen, same with mental problems, they seem to be a recent phenomenon!
Learn to play the Saxaphone, the Guitar or Keyboards. Trust me, all your phony malady’s will vanish into thin air. ——Oh, and by the way, stop walking down every street staring at your silly phone. Use the technology but stop letting it use you instead. ——–If you happen to be tone deaf, don’t worry, just join a sports club or a football team.
Music lessons are white supremacist, hadn’t you heard?
As my kids tell me; “Dad, if there isn’t something wrong with you, then there’s something wrong with you!”
Is you kid Jack who writes here, by any chance?!
Most of us are dysfunctional to an extent and being aware of that and taking practical steps to become less so would seem helpful to me, but there’s a fine line between that and excessive navel-gazing and wallowing in it. In former times, people had more pressing matters to worry about – it seems like a rich-world phenomenon to me. Probably things will have to swing too far the other way, leading to a collapse, before we swing back again.
In the 30’s and 40’s people were too busy surviving to be depressed. My grandfather worked 50 years in a Coal Mine, raised 5 kids and had a huge vegetable garden full of potatoes, carrots, leaks and cabbage. —-As you ay “More pressing matters to worry about”.
I don’t see how it could possibly be worse than I feared – that’s because I fear the total destruction of socoety as we know it.
Behaviour is taught.
The current woke, victimology, mental health is all down to training, enabling and the example set by those in positions of power and influence.
About 10% of youngsters ingest harmful chemicals of one sort or another, have been doing so for many years now.
As we know from the behaviour of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, this, probably more often than not, leads to genuine mental health problems.
And the bad news is that this condition of psychotic disorder is already prevalent among the professional classes – doctors, teachers, lawyers, accountants, architects, civil servants.
That is why things are already interesting, and not in a good way.
My sister and I have nine adult kids 20 to 32 between us. Eight are on ADHD and/or anxiety meds. Only one, as far as I can tell, needs the ADHD meds. All are successful, and for my sister, giving ADHD pills to her kids was akin to giving speed to soldiers to improve their performance. Ridiculous. What all these meds will do to their brains long term, I don’t know.
More on the state of the modern university: My 27-yo daughter teaches several sections of a required freshman writing class at a large Midwestern US university. She says the students skip class frequently, don’t do the reading assignments, ask for extensions, and overshare during class discussion (“I didn’t read the assignment but let me tell you about what’s going on in my life.”) Students can get accommodations if they have ADHD but she hasn’t seen a request because of an anxiety diagnosis. To ensure they don’t use AI or otherwise cheat on their writing assignments, the first assignment for next semester will be to write a personal narrative, not that they need an excuse for navel-gazing….
I struggle to believe that they can be worse the snowflakes who ‘grew-up’ in the 1960s and spent their lives convinced the state, and particularly the NHS, would always look after them, that the BBC and The Guardian were infallible sources of truth, that Communism was a really great idea in-spite of Stalin, Mao and the Khmer Rouge, that anyone who suggested scaling back the role of the state was a selfish, evil Tory, that religion was simply a means of controlling people, that scientists never lie and Science would solve all societies ills, that they’d soon be travelling to other planets, that their generation was far more enlightened than any that went before (or came after), that shutting down major parts of the economy was an appropriate reaction to not getting what they what, that publicly vilifying anyone who happened to be rich or in a position of authority and dismantling old institutions, however noble, was their duty. By contrast, today’s youth have had endure being locked-in their rooms for months on end just in case it might prolong the life of a baby-boomer, force-fed all manner of woke BS by their elders, coerced into taking on enormous debts to pay for the baby-boomers lifestyles, offered sex change operations by the NHS and forced to watch drag shows whilst still children, offered little by way of societal support or opportunity. It’s time the Baby-boomer snowflakes stopped blaming the Millennials and took responsibility for the dystopia that they had created over the past sixty years.
Yup, Boomers had it all! Income tax starting at 35% and mortgage interest rates of 15%!
The fact that half of the young people at university would be more suited to a traditional apprenticeship hardly equips them for the level of mental disciplines needed to attain worthwhile degrees.
I suspect that cancelling at such short notice means that she’d over-slept and wouldn’t have made the meeting on time. Mental health is too often the ”get out of jail” card. A solution could have been to cancel the meeting completely as her mental state means that she wouldn’t be strong enough to receive the ”constructive criticism” she would be receiving. Asked the student to re-confirm when she is ”strong” enough to attend a face-to-face meeting to receive this ”constructive criticism”. I’m a great believer in ”tough love” as we are not doing young people any favours by pandering to excuses. Companies here may have gone woke but try this on internationally (particularly in Asia) and you’d soon be losing your credibility and their business.
We, as a society, are afraid of saying you must be tougher to get through life, and each person must accept responsibility for their life instead of blaming others.
If my wife and I were starting out now, im
not sure we’d have children. The world is going to shit and it seems there’s nothing that can stop it. Great article. Totally agree with it entirely.
Agree Simon, but those of us who bring up their kids to be personally responsible and tough, will produce the future leaders, who will hopefully reverse this maddening spiral into obscurity!