NYTimes: ‘It’s Life or Death’: The Mental Health Crisis Among U.S. Teens

Mental health disorders have surpassed previous public health threats on teenagers such as binge drinking and drunk driving. The amount of teenagers reporting having a major depressive episode increased by 60% from 2007 to 2019. While a lot of people target social media as the cause of this increase in mental health struggles, experts also suggest that less sleep and exercise, as well as less in person socialization are likely culprits. Even so, some people wonder if the higher numbers of anxiety, depression and other mental health struggles are just due to higher awareness and diagnoses, rather than a truly higher prevalence. A silver lining to this crisis may be that mental health difficulties are accepted now more than ever, and resources are the most available they have ever been. As such, more and more teens and adults alike are able to receive care if they need it. To read the full article, click here. To read more about community health, click here.