![www.nytimes.com](/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%2Fimages%2F2024%2F05%2F07%2Fmultimedia%2F00SKEPTIC-01-lpbt%2F00SKEPTIC-01-lpbt-facebookJumbo.jpg&hash=117a00fbcc4b855bc6bdc92c96c11ac9&return_error=1)
Are We Talking Too Much About Mental Health?
Recent studies cast doubt on whether large-scale mental health interventions are making young people better. Some even suggest they can have a negative effect.
Now, some researchers warn that we are in danger of overdoing it. Mental health awareness campaigns, they argue, help some young people identify disorders that badly need treatment — but they have a negative effect on others, leading them to over-interpret their symptoms and see themselves as more troubled than they are.
The researchers point to unexpected results in trials of school-based mental health interventions in the United Kingdom and Australia: Students who underwent training in the basics of mindfulness, cognitive behavioral therapy and dialectical behavior therapy did not emerge healthier than peers who did not participate, and some were worse off, at least for a while.
And new research from the United States shows that among young people, “self-labeling” as having depression or anxiety is associated with poor coping skills, like avoidance or rumination.
Interesting article. It appears all the pathologizing of '1st world problems' and the growing prominence of 'therapy talk' has produced more miserable young people.