The Kids Aren't Ok. We Must Do Better As Parents.
- Randall Scott White
- Jul 11, 2022
- 2 min read
Updated: Jul 16, 2022
A newly released survey of 362 school counselors nationwide out shows students experiencing the highest levels of anxiety and depression ever seen.
Counselors “described many students as frozen, socially and emotionally, at the age they were when the pandemic started,” according to the New York Times.
Overall, 94 percent of counselors surveyed reported heightened levels of anxiety and depression, while 88 percent reported emotional control issues, and nearly 75 percent reported conflict resolution problems.
In addition, 72 percent of counselors reported students regularly breaking classroom rules, 67 percent reported signs of low self esteem, and 59 percent reported students having trouble making friends.
According to CDC data, more than 44 percent of American teens reported “persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness,” while nearly 20 percent seriously considered suicide, and 9 percent actually did attempt suicide in 2020.
In the case of Bipolar Disorder, specifically, about 1–5% of the total population have a chronic course and are associated with a markedly elevated premature mortality. One of the contributors for the decreased life expectancy in BD is suicide. Accordingly, the rate of suicide among BD patients is approximately 10–30 times higher than the corresponding rate in the general population. Extant research found that up to 20% of (mostly untreated) BD subjects end their life by suicide, and 20–60% of them attempt suicide at least one in their lifetime.
My daughter is going into the seventh grade this year. When I was in the seventh grade, this stuff was unheard of, except I had a close friend kill himself but never got the full story. I can't say what mental illness plagued him, but now I am a parent and the kids are NOT okay. An entire generation of children is suffering from what seems to me, to be a social collapse happening around us with economic, social, peer, sexual, gender, nutritional, and additional pressures.
So we need to step up as parents, whether our kids have bipolar disorder or something else.
According to a 2019 report on suicide and bipolar disorder, good family and social support, parenthood and the use of adaptive coping strategies seem to have some protective effects. Furthermore, a strong perceived meaning of life and hyperthymic affective temperament are also protective factors.
My daughter lost her mother to suicide, and I will do anything to protect her, as well as other kids.
I hope many other parents will turn off the distractions and focus on their kids' health too.
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