The media discussion on the contemporary ‘adolescent mental health crisis’ carries on. The more I read about it (there’s hardly a day in the news it’s not mentioned), the more certain themes take shape for me, as I keep seeing them circulating.
One of the themes is teenagers’ generational pessimism and dejected outlook. Of course this is a generalisation – many adolescents wouldn’t recognise themselves in this. But as far as generalisations go, this seems consistently supported by recent research. This pessimism at the cusp of adulthood indicates wanting to give up right when things are gaining momentum. Which is a problem!