Sander van der Wel from Netherlands, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
A generation growing up without parents, friends, coaches, or religion, need drugs and therapy to cope.
A recent study revealed that 42 percent of individuals belonging to Generation Z, born between 1990 and 2010, have been diagnosed with a mental health condition. The prevalent diagnoses include anxiety, depression, ADHD, and PTSD. Furthermore, twenty percent of them have sought therapy, and sixty percent are currently taking medication.
When asked about the source of their mental health issues, Gen Zers identified various factors including the pandemic, fear of the future, finances, the economy, politics, the environment, violence, and work issues.
With the exception of the pandemic, all of these concerns have existed in previous generations. However, only a fraction of the population in those generations was diagnosed with mental health issues.
Additionally, apart from the Greatest Generation (1901-1927) and the Silent Generation (1928-1945), all other American generations—Baby Boomers (1946-1964), Generation X (1965-1980), Millennials (1981-1996), Generation Z (1997-2012), and Generation Alpha (2013-2025)—are still alive in significant numbers. They experienced a similar world as Gen Zers but did not experience mental health issues on the same scale.
One of the frequently cited reasons for the higher frequency of mental illness diagnoses among Gen Z is their increased willingness to discuss mental health issues.
While being open about problems may appear positive, it also normalizes conditions such as OCD and PTSD, which, unlike cancer or physical diseases, lack clear-cut, irrefutable testing or diagnosis.
The prevalence of mental health problems and the need for drugs and therapy has become so normalized that Gen Zers think their situation is normal. “Despite so many wrestling with psychological challenges, 79 percent of Gen Zers believe their age group is best at addressing mental health.”
Many experts believe that a breakdown of traditional values and the decline of marriage contributes to Gen Z’s mental health issues. In previous generations, kids talked to their mom about certain things, and their dad about others. About a third of Gen Z were born to single women, and 25% grew up in single-parent homes.
Ninety percent of individuals in Generation Z view cohabitation outside of marriage as acceptable, whereas only 35% consider single parenting to have a negative impact on society. Additionally, a full 28% of Gen Z “identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer.” About one-third identify as having no religion, and 45% said they did not attend religious services during adolescence.
Due to social media, Gen Zers spent less time engaging in face-to-face interactions with their friends compared to previous generations. Forty-one percent reported not having a boyfriend or girlfriend during their teenage years, whereas this was true for only about 23% of previous generations.
They grew up in smaller families, with older parents. Only 38% of Gen Zers said they ate meals with their family on a daily basis during childhood. In contrast, twice as many, 76%, of Baby Boomers ate daily meals with their families.
As for life experiences that were once considered crucial to adolescent development, 70% to 82% of previous generations held jobs during their teenage years, whereas only 58% of Gen Zers do. Less than half of Gen Zers participated in organized sports or outdoor activities like hunting and fishing. Seventy percent played video games.
Previous generations had several sources of advice and life lessons to turn to. They had siblings, as well as both a mother and a father, who were of differing genders. They received moral and spiritual guidance from religious leaders such as reverends, priests, and rabbis. Additionally, they had Boy Scout leaders, coaches, and friends they interacted with face-to-face.
In contrast, Gen Zers primarily rely on the internet, which can become an echo chamber, normalizing dysfunction, amplifying exceptions, and perpetuating a cycle of mental health issues and perceived mental health issues. And the pharmaceutical companies are all too willing to fund research that says kids need to be medicated.
By Antonio Graceffo