The Silent Epidemic: Youth, Mental Health and the Fractured Society We Live In

We are living in a time when technology is growing fast. We are always connected to each other.. Even with all this connection the human mind feels more alone burdened and vulnerable than ever. Mental health is something that people used to avoid talking about because they were embarrassed. Now it is one of the problems we face especially among young people.

Todays young people are feeling a mix of hope and anxiety. On the one hand there are a lot of opportunities there. On the hand there is a lot of pressure to succeed perform well and prove themselves in a world that is very competitive. This is causing a lot of people to struggle with their mental health.

Unemployment is one of the challenges that young people face. It is not just about not having money. It is also about feeling like you do not have a purpose or identity. When you are young and out of school you have big dreams and you are qualified to do a lot of things.. When you go out into the world you find that it is hard to get a job. This can make you feel like you are not good enough that you are failing and that you are not worthy.

When you are unemployed for a time you can start to feel like you are helpless. You can start to think that you are a failure and that it is your fault. Society makes this problem worse by saying that your worth is tied to how productive you’re. This traps a lot of people in a cycle of feeling bad about themselves and comparing themselves to others.

School can be a source of stress for young people. They are always trying to get grades, win awards and be the best. This can be very harmful to their health. When they fail they are taught to think that it is a disaster, not an opportunity to learn.

This need to be perfect all the time creates a lot of anxiety, burnout and depression. Young people are afraid of disappointing their families. Not meeting the expectations of society. This fear is always there wearing them down and making them less strong.

Social media can be a thing and a bad thing. It can be a place where you can express yourself and connect with others.. It can also make you feel like you are not good enough. When you see how perfect peoples lives seem you can start to feel like you are not measuring up. You can get caught up in trying to get likes, shares and followers. You can start to think that your worth is tied to those things. This can leave you feeling empty and anxious.

In a lot of cultures family is very important.. Sometimes family expectations can be too much. When young people are not allowed to express their feelings or be themselves they can start to feel alone. They can feel like they are suffering by themselves and this can make their problems even worse.

Some young people turn to drugs, alcohol or other bad habits to try to escape their problems.. These things do not really help. They can make you feel better for a while but in the end they make your problems worse.

This is usually because young people do not have ways to deal with their emotions. They may have experienced trauma. They may not have gotten the help they needed. Of dealing with these problems society often judges them and pushes them away.

One of the troubling things about this crisis is that it is a part of our society. We are so focused on making progress and being successful that we have created a world that values achievement over happiness. We think that hard work and being strong is more important than being vulnerable and taking care of ourselves. We do not have resources to help people with their mental health.

This is a problem. We have resources than ever before but we are not happy. We are more connected to each other. We feel alone. We know more about health but we are not doing enough to help.

To fix this problem we need to do a lot of things. We need to talk about health openly so people do not feel ashamed. We need to change our schools so they focus on helping young people grow as people, not on grades. We need to create jobs that’re good for young people jobs that match their skills and goals. We need to help families understand and support each other. We need to make social media a safer place, where people do not feel like they are in competition with each other.. We need to make sure that everyone can get the help they need for their mental health.

The mental health problems that young people face are not just random. They are a sign of a problem in our society. If we do not fix this it will not just hurt the people it will hurt our whole society.

We need to change the way we think. We need to think about living lives, not just surviving. We need to think about being happy not just looking good on the outside. We need to think about being kind to each other not trying to be successful. If we can do this we can turn this crisis into a story of strength, awareness and healing. The mental health of people is a big issue and it requires a big response from all of us from the way we think about mental health to the way we live our lives, to the way we treat young people and the way we support them the way we support mental health.

Written by
Shahla Ishtiaq