Good post serious, but I think we are looking at the symptoms and not the root cause. Why are they on so many drugs, needing so much help, and being shaken by losing their support systems? Those are the questions that need to be addressed. Otherwise, we are relegated to consistently focusing on symptoms that will never get better.

I think the root cause of 90% of these issues are directly related to poor parenting. Parents expect the TV or a daycare to raise their kids. Pathetic...

Why are they on so many drugs

Ya think it might be all their off label "blackmarket" use of prescribed psychotropic and SSRI that might have something to do with it?

I do. I think people rely way too much on all kinds of prescription drugs. It's big pharma's fault too...its big business. People just don't want to suck it up and work out their problems. Everyone wants the easy way out. Take a pill and you're better, slimmer, more mentally stable...whatever. I think most people are simply lazy. Now do I also think there is a real medical need for some people? Absolutely...but they are more the exception to the rule.

Jess, I disagree.

I think what has happened over the last 20 years is that special education and support systems have gotten better. This has enabled many students who would not have been able to go to college (poor high school performance, dropped out, etc.) to now be admitted to college.

In my opinion the students are not necessarily more "in-need" of medication, it's just that more at getting medicated and more are succeeding in school and being admitted to college.

By the way, the poor parenting as cause of mental illness theory has been debunked.

I agree that they have gotten better. There is no doubting that. Has it resulted in some kids going to college that otherwise might not have made it...certainly. I also agree that more are medicated, but so is all of America. We rely way too much on medications and not what matters. Healthy diets...healthy environments...supportive families...exercise...etc.

As far as your last statement is concerned, I think you are completely off base. We aren't talking about mental illness. We are talking about mental health problems. There is a big difference between the two. A mental illness is something like autism or schizophrenia. Mental health problems are things like depression because you're fat or you lack self confidence because your facebook friends de-friended you. So what do you do? There's a pill for that. Kids are coddled soooo much that they are, for a lack of a better word, pu$$ies. That is of course when parents find time in their busy lives to parent.

being socially awkward is nothing new, what is new are all these kids who have no clue of how to deal (with pretty much anything) because their 'friends' are all on facebook, they spend all their time online or playing vid games, they can't run over 100 yds without passing out and are in poor health, they lose yet still get a trophy... no wonder they're a mess.

Spot on, Cmon. Serious makes some great points too, but I think we are just way too reactive and not nearly spending enough time on being proactive. They're a mess becasue they are weak. They are weak because, in my opinion, their parents made them that way by enabling them and/or not parenting them.

mostly good posts I think.

But I got a unconvincing sense of the data behind the article. Seemed to point in different directions leaving me with a feeling the "rise" was a judgement call rather than substantiated. Is the conclusion based on just better measurements, rather than significant differences in the same metrics ?

"The students who are seeking help are frequently socially isolated," he said.

Socially isolated? Many kids today are hermits in a cave. The resultant effects of the TV, internet, Blackberry's and video games. Kids watch over 7.5 hours of TV a DAY! This is more than 32.5 hours a week. If you combine the effects of all the technology kids use and abuse they spend over 53 HOURS A WEEK!!!! This is nearly one and a half full time jobs per the Kaiser Family Foundation.

On the other hand kids read books a whopping 25 minutes a day, magazines 9 minutes and newspapers 3 minutes. In a week they spend less time reading than the time you have for lunch breaks at work.

Time spent outdoors is even more concerning. All the time kids spend in front of TV's, etc they spend much less time in outdoors in unstructured play. Parents are even scheduling "play time" weeks in advance. They are NOT corporate executives! The National Wildlife Federation even has names for this problem,,,"nature deficit disorder" and "videophilia". Consequences of this are obesity and possibly ADHD. Benefits of unstructured outdoor play is associated with being able to develop problem-solving skills, self-reliance, creativity and a sense of connection with outdoors.

It's obvious where the college problems can develop from. Our kids are being raised in bubbles. We coddle them, overly protect them and promote unrealistic goals in life. Real baseball games do NOT get 10 strikes per bat and they DO keep score. Everybody doesn't get a Super Bowl ring just because they participated that season. We need to restructure our childrens lives from living in a family room or basement playing "Doom" or "Mario Brothers" (proof of my ignorance in video games) to going outside or having friends over to play games, imaginary games, pickup baseball games, etc.

i watch kids today and they don't look you in the eye when you talk to them, they shake hands with a limp-wristed awkward excuse and they can't structure a sentence if they wanted to. But they can be your BFF or LOL with you or TTYL. I don't discount the existence of mental disorders but many of their problems are extrinsic rather than intrinsic. let your kids go for a little everyday, let them be kids, let them make REAL best friends forever and LET THEM get into arguments! This is what life is about.

I also recommend they read this, it's credited to Bill Gates but it may be someone elses creation. Regardless, it breaks down their life pretty well,,,,

Love him or hate him, he sure hits the nail on the head with this one. To anyone with kids of any age, or anyone who has ever been a kid, here’s some advices Bill Gates dished out recently at a high school speech about 11 things they don’t teach in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings have created a generation of kids with no concept of reality, and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.

Rule 1: Life is not fair…get used to it.

Rule 2: The world won’t care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3: You will NOT make $40,000/year right out of high school. You won’t be a vice-president with a cell-phone, until you earn both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. He
doesn’t have tenure.

Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a word for flipping burgers-they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up it’s not your parents fault, so don’t whine about
your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren’t as boring as they are
now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes, and
listening to how cool you are. So before you save the rain forest from the
parasites of your parents’ generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life
hasn’t. In some schools they have abolished failing grades and they’ll give
you as many times as you want to get the answer right. This doesn’t bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don’t get summers and
Christmas break off, and very few employers are interested in helping you
find yourself. Do that on you own time.

Rule 10. Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to
leave the coffee shop and go to work.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one.

http://www.bloganything.net/816/bill-gates-11-things-they-dont-teach-in-school

I don't think you realize just how different the landscape is today.

First of all, there are more students in college with serious mental illnesses like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Secondly, even those having merely menatl health issues are less ready to live in community.

For example, a large percentage of college students never shared a room before. Some have never even shared a bathroom before. (Families are much smaller and houses much larger.)

It may sound trivial, but they never had to negotiate space with a sibling, and now they have to with a stranger. It can become a 24/7 problem.

First of all, there are more students in college with serious mental illnesses like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

Don't believe this FOR A SECOND. Just because more people carry a "diagnosis" HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH CAUSALITY OR ACTUALITY.

These diagnosis' and their prescriptions are thrown around like so many coupons at a car dealership opening and by the same types of SALESMEN, which is EXACTLY what the American Psychiatric Association's rank ARE FULL OF.

A diagnosis ISN'T about anything other than SELLING YOU A TREATMENT.

Like the "Truecoat undercoating" on your brand new Canyoneero or Family Truckster.

It doesn't do anything but put money in the pockets of those touting its use.

Schizophrenia is hard to misdiagnose.

Schizophrenia is hard to misdiagnose.

So how would you recognize it?

By the way, the poor parenting as cause of mental illness theory has been debunked.

Good parenting isn't a lucrative quick fix solution that lines the pockets of Big Pharm, so of course we're going to pretend that parenting has nothing to do with it!

Give any decent statistician a computer, a data set, and an hour, and s/he can "debunk" literally anything you want.

Give any decent statistician a computer, a data set, and an hour, and s/he can "debunk" literally anything you want.

Like, say, the JUNK science of the psycho/pharma multinational corporations, for example.

Children are raised from birth in institutions. A young child who goes somewhere in the evening with people he barely knows to eat dinner and go to sleep is not going "home," regardless of the adult's perception. It would actually be kinder to leave the very young child in the environment he knows and thinks of as home -- the day care center. In any case, he never truly bonds with his mother, and is developmentally stunted.

Then children are exposed to sex and violence long before they are ready to deal with such issues, frightening them, stimulating them inappropriately, and causing confusion and insecurity. Many people in this country actually sit down to eat dinner with televised "entertainment" involving simulated rape and/or murder. Pre-adolescent children go to sleep listening to depraved filth with a rhythmic beat pouring into their minds.

They are supervised and regimented. They can't go outside to play unsupervised, their days are filled with one activity after another, dished up to them so they never have a moment to explore their world on their own or think creatively. They never have a chance to become an individual.

And you wonder that by the time they get to college they are so screwed up they want to kill themselves and each other?

Stop having babies. Get a car instead. You'll get just as much attention for just as long -- which is the only reason most of you get pregnant in the first place.

Root cause is that we're looking at a bleak future. Our parents have ruined any chances of prosperity, hope, and ethics... and now we're looking at a future wracked with non-stop war as well. Homes are a slim option, jobs are scarce, and you want us to pop pills that make us feel like CRAP! Okay, so the only thing that makes me personally want to go on living is marijuana, but you people want to say that's not medically beneficial for us either except in a few choice states... but the feds refuse to let it prosper. Blurring out the constant barrage of how desperate the world has become is the only option for some of us. Since 9/11 all we've seen is a downward spiral into the crapper. We fear because we see in your eyes that we are the undesirables. You want to help? Stop being greedy and share your prosperity. Stop the layoffs, stop the extravagance in front of our eyes when we're struggling, stop the raise in taxation, stop the wars, stop making our daddies jobless. Desperation is not mental illness, it's the state you get when society has crossed the f'n line!

RogueUSA got it right.

Go on a bus or sit in a office full of teenagers. Almost all of them are busy txting on their cellphones instead of talking to a real person. It's eerie quiet. Also in a society where they want to fix everything with a pill. Medicating everything will not solve anything at all. And a society where you get a trophy just by showing up. Well...... the real world doesn't work that way.

My son was in 1st grade. The teacher was discussing a topic my son already knew. This happened quite a bit. My son was bored, he knew the subject material. If the teacher asked him what she just said, he could always answer. He was listening. A bored 6 year old boy gets "ants in his pants" and can't pay attention or be very still. The teacher, mind you, diagnosed my son ADHD and told us if we did not put him on ritalin she would call family services and have him taken from us for neglect. Maybe this is how it starts, perfectly normal children having teachers say they need to be drugged to sit in their classrooms. (We refused to drug him after our doctor told us he was fine, with the doctor's diagnosis we dared the teacher to call family services. She backed down, but spread the word to all my son's future teachers in the school he was mentally ill. We put in in a private school.)

Ritalin and the likes....years ago I was told by a school employee that the schools get more funding per child if the child is a "special needs" child. Kids on Ritalin are considered "special needs."

My friends son was a 100% out doors boy the school wanted to put him on Ritalin, she refused and she stood her ground. He is in the 9th grade now and he does fine in school with the help of no drugs. He was just a young boy wanting to play outside and not sit in a classroom.

The teacher, mind you, diagnosed my son ADHD and told us if we did not put him on ritalin she would call family services and have him taken from us for neglect.

Pharma companies will regularly attend national & regional teacher conferences to promote their wares to teachers by conducting ADD ADHD "awareness workshops" or lectures.

This is a staple & standard pharma tool to INVOLUNTARILY obtain a diagnosis for which a dangerous drug is the treatment.

Long term Ritalin use ( as ANY stimulant will) is detrimental to the heart muscle degrading it slowly. If you've heard or seen stories of student athletes "collapsing" after practice or games and dying- it is now becoming standard knowledge that the first thing screened for in these types of incidences is the use of these type of drugs, Ritalin, Adderall and other similar prescribed medication for "ADD ADHD" diagnosis'.

Actually if you do not have a mental illness how would you even have a clue? What the root problem is. To much this and to much that. Not enough this and not enough that. You all are doing what most do all their lives guess.

What would the so called Normal people want a metally ill or menatally diasbled person to do. Use non prescription drugs like the past? We all know how well that works out. Look at our illegal drug problem here in the states.

The major problem here is denial and the fear of others knowing about your illness. Stigma is the word that describes it best. Along with a larger population and ever increasing contact with those (crazies) sarcasm of course.

As for being week or so called pussies like Jess-1177200 said above. The only people who I seem to hear say those types of things are people who have a mental illness but refuse to get help. I learned I had one got it from my Grandmother. And learning I had it and being on the proper medication has turned my life around. I would hardly call myself a pussy. I had fought in street fights since i was a kid for being socially awkward. and was very dangerous to others.

You know it had nothing to do with my parents. I am a college Graduate. Very smart and productive. Whenever a friend or family member needs help. due to not knowing how something works they come to me. And I fix it whatever it is. So if you know someone with depression issues or other mental health issues like PTSD or Bi-polar disorder or ADHD. whatever it is. They can be helped, they are not Dumb. But they can be dangerous if left off of medications or do not get help.

My Father wont get help he self medicates now. It hit him later in life and now he thinks only pussies go to shrinks. Sad to see him suffer. Drinking to cope ALONE

One last thing the most cowardly thing one can do. Is not face themselves head-on honestly.

I've taught at risk kids for almost 30 years, and my experiences with doctors and ADHD have been quite opposite from Take21a. Most of the time, the doctors ask for full achievement and psycological evaluations, formal observations, parent/teacher rating scales, and health history interviews. They sometimes want to talk to the teacher directly. I can count on 1 hand the times a doctor has just automatically prescribed meds, and I've taught in seven different states. And I have NEVER been required to attend a workshop or conference on ADHD. The ones I've chosen to go to emphasize behavioral interventions in the classroom and at home. The mother who said a teacher told her she thought her child was ADHD could have been sued. We have been told in every place I've taught that you CANNOT make a medical diagnosis. We are told repeatedly that we can only tell a parent exactly what we have observed. With all of that said, though, I have seen dramatic changes in children's academic achievement, behavior, and social development when meds have been prescribed and they are taken. Thank goodness there are many different new meds to try if one doesn't work. It has been, at least a couple years since I've had a child on Ritalin. There are better meds now. My own child has bi-polar disorder and if not for meds, I know she would have committed suicide because she attempted it before meds. She went to trade school and is working full time now. Her wonderful doctors monitor her meds every three months and make adjustments, and yes, they have even decreased some. I am so thankful that there is something out there. Of course, we also educated ourselves and went through family counseling. Until you have been in this situation, you have no idea what it is like. Maybe my dad and aunt would be alive today if they had had medical intervention.

I'm just curious, Take21a. Where did you obtain your information? I know my colleagues would want to know also.

Well Robyn, thanks for asking. If you take a look at my column you'll see that I'm an anti-psychiatry blogger, watchdog and researcher posting over 350 articles and links during the a last few years exposing the crimes, abuses, conflicts of interest that exist in the pharma, psychiatry, medical and mental health care industries.

As well as personal experiences which have informed my position, my public research into the marketing of these "services" to the public has shown that there is very little these industries WON'T do to promote (push) themselves into the homes, schools, and lives of every person in every country including the emerging markets of India, Pakistan, Africa, and the middle east. Including the lobbying of governments and legislatures. In this country the "Health Care Reform act of 2010" included a component added as and amendment referred to as "the Mother's Act" completely written and promoted by the APA to legislate the "screening" of preterm pregnant mothers for "mental illnesses" for the SOLE PURPOSE of promoting their wares to mother's and children still in the womb.

This is NOTHING more than a legislated market share and an attempt by that industry to legislate customers WHILE STILL IN THE WOMB.

You think college kids are having trouble NOW. Give it 19 or 20 years. Waiting for kids to get to school in kindergarten to be diagnosed with "ADD ADHD" isn't soon enough for pharma evidently.

If your generation is the generation of oil and energy depletion, environment destruction and a nation at war with the middle east you might be despressed too! Government corruption and corporate fascism has plundered their prospects for employment after college, not to mention overwhelming debt upon graduation. The world they are inheriting is not "facebook" pretty and they know something is wrong, even if they are woefully ignorant of understanding why.

Interesting. I appreciate the information and can see that you are passionate about protecting our families. I truly am thankful for people like you. I just have never experienced any of that. Maybe I've just been fortunate to have come into connect with wonderful medical people. You do agree, though, that meds can be very beneficial-as was the case with my daughter??

college is not what it used to be. women went to one. men went to another. making coed college or universitys is the cause of many a suicide. The economy is not what it used to be causing many depressive people. Yes i agree with the ritalin over prescribed as a cause also of the problems with the kids. So much has changed over the years and not always for the better often for the worse. In williamsburg virginia you can learn how the colonists trained the people. apprenticeships need started at age 12 so the kids are active and do not need ritalin. The lazy teachers dumber than the students need fired. Test the teachers unexpectedly see if they pass the same test the kids are taking. it is sad to see a teacher unable to see when a 6 yr old is bored he should have been moved up a grade level or two. many in college do not get enough sleep which results in brain decline. what do they expect? Putting men and women together is plan nuts.

Many in college drink alcohol and do drugs that also damages the brains.

We are seeing more and more cases due to more studies, a broader search, easy access to news 24/7, and simply better awareness.

So are you seriously saying that pharma studies, news and increased visibility are causing mental health issues?

That's exactly what he's not saying. His point is that these issues have always been there, people just weren't aware of them until modern times when more studies were done and more access to information was obtainable.

Spybee's food additives theory doesn't address the fact that the craziest people around are vegans.

His point is that these issues have always been there, people just weren't aware of them until modern times when more studies were done and more access to information was obtainable.

So then how would you explain away school shootings which WEREN'T prevalent prior to 1988 when SSRI and other psychiatric drugs began to be prescribed widely in the youth population?

Are you sure that there were no school shootings? Or are you sure that school shooting got little national news coverage?

In my high school (circa 1980) a student set off a bomb and blew out 2 banks of lockers. It didn't even make the local tv news. Today, there would be news helicopters flying overhead and 24-hour coverage by CNN.

There was plenty of violence in the 70's and 80's. It just didn't get the coverage it does today.

There were school shootings prior to that, at about the same rate per capita. Remember the clocktower shooting at Texas A&M or something like that? That was back in the 50's, wasn't it?

Violence isn't even one of the side effects of SSRIs, as far as I know.

School shootings existed with a similar frequency prior to 1988--we are just exposed to more coverage of them in the media, especially in post-Columbine America.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_shooting

http://www.prisonpolicy.org/scans/jpi/schoolhouse.pdf

take2...no, he was suggesting we have increased metrics in the last decade that didn't exist before. It was pretty clear that reporting and studies don't cause mental illness

similar to environmental contaminants we are now worried about, we didn't before...because we did not have the means to measure them (at low levels). Doesn't mean they weren't there, it means we can now measure what we couldn't before. That the last twenty years has resulted in much better data collection and reporting, and increased availability to pharma products is certain. Prescribing meds for mental/psy reasons is certainly much more common than decades ago (the chicken or the egg...if

School shootings existed with a similar frequency prior to 1988

Really ?!? Where and when?

So much to comment on but I will comment on this immediately just in case anyone else reads it.

Per the so called 'Clocktower Incident (shooting)'. If you do your research you will find that the young man had been suffering from debilitting headaches, and feelings of violence. He went to several doctors and all of them told him he was fine, they found no evidence of what was causing the headaches, and many told him 'it was all in his head'. He reached out and tried to get help and was dismissed constantly.

In his last written statement he pleaded that they do an autopsy, and especially look in his brain. It was found that he had a tumor that was causing the headaches and were the tumor was located was pushing up and invading the section of his brain where violent behaviors are formed.

Now he was guilty of the shootings, no doubt about that, why he did what he did in the way he did it is unknown, he could have shot up any business. But the point is that he did try to get help, he KNEW something was wrong and nobody listened to him. Unfortunately the result was that several people died (inculding him) and several were injured. But it's possible that it all could have been avoided if someone had listened to him, believed him.

I don't think that is factually accurate. Charles Whitman was taking benzodiazapines, barbituates, and was consuming alcohol in the days leading up to his "episode".

It is true that he had sought help from psychiatrists and was dismissed.

ADDITIONALLY, prior to Charles climbing the clocktower, the incidences of mass public killings was EXTREMELY rare. While I'm sure violence at school occurred, it was rare and NEVER invloved one shooter killing multiples of people.

This is documented by several sources. Not the least of which is SSRI Stories & CCHR

Repeated inquiries attempting to analyze his exact experiences were not too successful with the exception of his vivid reference to "thinking about going up on the tower with a deer rifle and start...

MARCH 29, 1966 (cont'd) (-----) #8009

shooting people". He recognizes, or rather feels that he is not achieving in his work at the level of which he is capable and this is very disconcerting to him. The youth could talk for long periods of time and develop overt hostility while talking, and then during the same narration may show signs of weeping.

from the psychiatric intake report taken on Charles Whitman dated above.

Autopsy report on Charles Whitman

the vegans may be missing out on nutrients essential to brain development. they should take general nutrition center amino 2222 chewable pills. It is sad to see people hurt themselves.

High Fructose Corn Syrup: Mercury in high fructose corn syrup may ...

Mercury in high fructose corn syrup may cause damage to the brain and kidneys

www.highfructosecornsyrup.org/2009/03/mercury-in-high-fructose-corn-syrup-may.html

Years ago my nephew ate mostly corn and nothing else. i studied that type of diet and it did not provide what the brain needs to develop correctly. The physicians often fail to ask the parents "what does the kid eat." They assume the parents know what they are doing but kids do not come with an instruction manual and all parents are not dieticians. the changes to the foods available at school may contribute also to what is happening now. Fat kids starving from malnutrition. shame

Good insight, Evil.

The best thing that ever happened to me was failing out of my first attempt at college and dealing with the aftermath myself instead of mooching off my parents indefinitely.

What's wrong with an arts degree?! To each his own. And the arts play an important role in society.

Not all arts degrees mean sitting in a little studio and painting all day. Package design, web design, branding strategies, interior design, "green" design--just a small sample of the things an arts degree can lead to.

There's nothing inherently wrong with arts degrees, but a lot of people ignore the economic realities of the situation; with a lot of arts degrees, there are significantly more graduates than there are jobs, and the jobs aren't usually the best paying jobs out there. Rushing to get an arts degree and putting yourself tens of thousands of dollars in debt to get a job that isn't going to be able to pay it off anytime soon is not a wise decision.

Young people don't realize how much of their lives they have left; it's no shame to get a degree that leads to a well-paying job in order to set yourself up financially before you go back to school for a degree in a fine arts subject.

Agreed!

Michelle, I'm sorry to hear about your father's passing and the repercussions of it. I hope you are able to continue with your education and eventually feel less pain.

Michelle, I know it hurts but it's called life. I too am in pain after losing my son 4 months ago. These things that happen are there to make us stronger, please just stay away from the drugs. Pain is part of life, running from it doesn't help. Hang in there it will get better and easier.

Michelle, condolences on the loss of your father. But not all that long ago, believe it or not, colleges didn't have counseling offices, and the college medical clinic didn't hand out Prozac, et.al. feel good drugs like candy. It was chin up, and deal with it for pete's sake. No clinic to give you adiagnosis of PTSD and pills. Parents and other loved ones die, it's part of life, and as one of their survivors, you needed to get on with life. That's whatcollege kids used to do, and they did it better I believe without all the drugs and coddling. Sorry if this sounds cold. But it just seems that kids can't handle adversity, whether big or small. I think as parents, a very important gift we can give our kids is to let them experience adversity - pain, rejection, sorrow, hurt, etc., and let them deal with it, without intruding in and dealing with it for them.

Michelle, my father committed suicide at the end of the my sophomore year. I knew it was going to happen, but that didn't help or change anything. I wasn't ready for it and neither was anyone else. My friends disappeared. I was completely alone.

You wake up and put one foot in front of the other and simply carry on. Your grief will make you much, much stronger than you think. Sometimes your own counseling is the best thing possible. My heart goes out to you and I wish you the best. Just carry own and hope that the world catches up to you. You are going through something that most people see much later in life. Give yourself a big hug. I'm with you.

I'm sorry, but counseling does not equal drugs! And when you have severe depression or anxiety, drugs do help. My fiance watched his best friend get killed by a car, he recessitated him through CPR long enough for his parents to say good bye, that was 3 years ago, and he now takes anti-anxiety pills, on the rare occasion. Not everyone deals with loss the same way. For the person who lost his/her son, I am so sorry for your loss, not parent should see their kids pass away, but to tell someone else that that's just life is not okay. Michelle, I hope you can get the counseling you need either from your university or under your insurer, I've been there, talking to someone helps SO much, and, as Lee can probably attest to, your school work will probably suffer. Going to college is a HUGE life change, I was massively depressed my first year. Many kids, like myself, are having to deal with moving far away from your family, living with a complete stranger in confined space, and in many cases, divorcing parents, who waiting till the kids were grown up and could "handle it".

sorry for your loss. When i have experienced a loss i try to focus on the memory's. I am grateful for the time i did have to share with that loved one. Death is an issue were joining a group that are also in mourning is a good thing to do. I agree with the comment about staying away from drugs. they might cause more harm than good. also avoid alcohol. cry let it out. scream into a pillow if it makes you feel better. Your heart hurts not because it is broken or missing pieces but because it is growing.

Mom, I agree. It's not only parents though, schools and sport teams contribute as well. When an individual never loses, never gets a bad grade, never has to take the knocks that life hands out-they don't learn how to cope. I so hate when parents berate teachers because their child got a bad grade. Let them get the bad grade and learn that their actions result in consequences. Teachers that aren't allowed to fail students that are failing. Everyone gets on the team. No one keeps score so there's no loser. Schools in CA got rid of tracking about 40 years ago-where students were grouped according to ability...and it was beneficial for both the students and the teachers. Can't do that because it might damage their self esteem. Now we pander to the lowest common denominator. Guess what-when you hit college, you may not get picked. You might flunk and the classes are based on ability.

Peggy, I don't understand part of your post.

High school athletics are very competitive. Being a senior does not get you a spot on the team let alone play time - and winning is everything.

Unfortunately, sports is often allowed to be more competitive than academics. They have only "A" teams in sports, but "A," "B," "C," and even "D" teams in academics.

Sometimes people are mentally ill when they suck it up time after time after time until they just can't suck it up any more. For example, they suck it up when they are chosen last for every team, they suck it up when everyone thinks they are weird, they suck it up when they are not favored in the family, they suck it up when their grades fall, they suck it up when they are verbally abused and see everyone else in the family verbally abused, and then things get worse and they can't suck it up any more.

so correct seen too much then they explode like a volcano. they need to learn young how to cope. they need to be taught coping skills how to release stress prior to it becoming a problem. by the time they go to college they should be adept at coping. years ago all of the above was accomplished prior to age 7. Moms used to stay home.

seen too much then they explode like a volcano.

The medications are DOCUMENTED to cause violence & most if not ALL psycho-tropic drugs and SSRI (medications used to "treat" most popular mental "DISORDERS') carry "Black Box Warnings" for this.

Half of them have been on Ritalin since they were five

Ritalin is the tamest medication these kids have grown up on.

It's the psycho/pharma business/marketing plan in action.

Whose most recent component was the Mother's Act, part of the health care reform bill passed in Jan.

Pre term Mother's will be "screened" and assessed "mental health issues". And of course medicated.

So birth is too late now, evidently.

No child should growup on meds. Adults need to learn to be patient.

Ritalin is the tamest medication these kids have grown up on

Im sorry taken, but ritalin is not tame. I used to be on ritalin. I was a zombie when I was a kid.

ShatteredDreams

I'm glad you are off Ritalin. Did you have any withdrawal symptoms? I had a nephew who was put on Ritalin at a very young age because he was a little active. He went from this nice, energetic kid to a zombie who was extremely quiet and often lashed out at other kids.

I used to work with a guy in his early 20s, had just finished college and was about to start medical school. We had a celebration lunch for him, and more than 1/2 the time he was glued to his blackberry checking and sending messages. I was like "Hey, dude, we're sitting here with you celebrating your transition and you're checking messages??"

They also have fewer siblings and bigger houses. They have their own room, sometimes their own bathroom. They eat dinner at their computer (in their room) instead of with their family.

yea but most of those early childhood traumas are caused by POOR PARENTING!

queenie, statistics please? Last time I checked, a death, which I'm sure for most children is a traumatic experience is not the cause of poor parenting. My sophomore year of high school my grandmother, whom I was very close with passed away, my junior year, a close friend was diagnosed with cancer, my senior year, said friend passed away a week before Christmas, another in a car accident in May. The summer before I graduated, my parents, who I knew at a young age should not be together, divorced, they waited until I was old enough to handle it, yeah right! Then I left for college. I was beyond depressed and spent the following summer going to weekly counseling sessions. My parent were, and are AMAZING parents, and I bet most of the kids in the study also have great parents.

Lori, great post!

Which is no different than it has been for years. You think college is tough? Wait till you get to the real world and you are judged on your performance, not just for showing up. It was your parents job to prepare you for this, and that's what great parents are about.

I'm relatively sure it's been that way for decades, if not longer, so that doesn't explain why mental health problem rates are increasing now.

Plus my grandparents and great grandparents didn't have issues like "Fitting in" and "Being accepted". They had actual problems, like "Not starving" and "Paying for rent so that they wouldn't freeze to death". Minority groups going to college in the south in the 1960's had problems; Minority groups going to college in suburbia in the modern day have issues.

Steff, I agree with you one some things, but not on the competitive thing.

The truth is there is a gradient of competitiveness in colleges - and there always was. MIT is more competitive than Cleveland State. It is today, and it was 20 years ago and 40 years ago.

Tough programs in selective schools are very competitive and always have been.

I don't understand why you think college students aren't judged for performance? If we don't perform in the classroom, what makes you think we're going to make a career out of what we study? College kids have jobs too, where we must perform if we want to keep our job.

You will understand as many ended up moving back in with their parents after college even before the recession because they couldn't handle the pressures of the real world. The types of pressures you have in studying and getting decent grades are not the same. It's even worse now as you need to be a top performer to move ahead and fight just to stay where you are at if you are lucky enough to have a good job.

The tough part is there is no "fairness" in the real world, sometimes you will lose and have no way to impact that outcome. I am not saying you won't succeed, just be prepared to work harder than you ever have had to before.

Superman, I absolutely disagree with you.

I recieved my BA (with a double major and a minor) in 2006, I took three years off and worked full time for the government making $45k per year, all while paying off my $30k student loans, paying for my house, car, insurance, etc. This past fall I returned to University in the UK for my Masters. I MISS the real world because work ended at 5pm and didn't start up again until 8 the next morning! Being a student is NOT easy.

And there is no 'fairness' in university, it can be quite cut throat.

Stef, best of luck with your studies!

Oh no! We can't teach, dare I say the slimy evil word? TOLERANCE!!!! AHHH! Run for the hills! Brimstone and fire will rain down on us!

Academics have ALWAYS been progressive!

"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds." -- Albert Einstein

The most progressive academics also have a great track record of being absolutely wrong in so many ways. See what intellectuals and college professors in 1930's America had to say about Nazi Germany and Stalin's CCCP. It turns the stomach.

The helicopter parent is a problem.

When faculty explain FERPA and let students and parents know that faculty do not have to talk to mom and dad - it's a real eye opener.

Isn't that the truth, serious! As a small biz owner, I've seen it all. I work with interns at a local university and have had more arguments with parents (who shouldn't be involved at all) than with their young adult offspring. This study is just the TIP of the iceberg.

Jackie - That's just incredible. Helicopter parents still butting in on an internship situation. Is there any hope for these kids today? Geesh.

Sometimes they decide for themselves, as adults, to stop taking their meds - often abruptly, without discussing it with anyone. This causes them to careen out of balance. Now they need help and they need it immediately - something campus health centers are rarely equipped to provide.

serious you make a major point here and I can see this would happen... health care on campus seems to be critical. The school has to step in and in some way be the parent for these students.

Sorry, Kyot, but "in loco parentis" is history.

It's not like that stuff is a big secret. Anyone with internet access should know that within a year of getting online. I knew most of the raw facts you've got there when I was in middle school, though I've drawn vastly different conclusion from it.

I disagree. We ALL have the chance to be successful or to make it in this country. Some of us just have to work extra, extra hard. Is it fair that you have to work harder than someone else? Nope. Heck, it's not fair that I have to work out 2 hours a day to maintain my weight while you may not have to work out at all. But your opportunities are there, and we all have the choice.

Well, Jackie. That's sweet... and a little naive. I'm glad to know the myth of the American dream is alive and well for you. The truth is, for a lot of people, they'll only be successful if they "work extra, extra hard," that's true. But it will only work for a fraction of the people out there who try. Lots of people in this country work extra, extra hard and never get very far ahead because they never catch a break or get offered those opportunities you speak of. It happens every day. But it is a great myth, isn't it? The idea that we succeed on our own or fail on our own from lack of trying. Kind of absolves the rest of us from and sesnse of responibility, doesn't it?

I'm willing to bet that saddened is just blaming his personal failures on others, and trying to be condescending and taking the moral high ground while doing so. The assumption that opportunities are offered to people instead of found by people is the most glaring assumption. Nothing is handed to you on a silver platter. Opportunity doesn't knock, that mofo hides under some bushes somewhere miles away from where you live, and if you ever want to even smell him, you better start looking now, because he's not coming to you.

It's never been about hard work. It's always been about smart work.

Actually, graduated from American University and I have a very high paying job. I just use my time not working in trying to help the less privileged, although my work is nothing compared to the devastation in this world. I always wondered when people would open their eyes and actually see the truth of the world? It's never going to happen because the people in power care about themselves and themselves only. For example, "We ALL have the chance to be successful or to make it in this country." Lets not even think about the WORLD, go to the inner cities of the USA where people live in project housing can barely afford to feed their family. They have a chance? They can't even get a proper education. And of course the majority of the people here will blame the people suffering for this, as if it's "their fault." But it gets hard to conform when you are being outcast by minority wealth of the country.

I can't wait for the racist responses that come after this...

It's not their fault, but that's no reason to punish others for it. Life is unfair; this should not be a revelation to you.

It's not the case that anyone can rise out of poverty, but it is the case that to rise out of poverty requires effort on the part of the poor. I don't believe telling the people who have been born into a worse situation than average that a great wrong has been committed against them is helpful; telling them that there is opportunity out there if they have the dedication to go and find it can be.

this is off topic sorry. a suggestion for the poor who are struggling look for a childless couple to adopt you. Many thousands of couples never had children. when they die were does all that wealth go? The trustees steal it often. so either look to be adopted or become a trustee for a deed of trust.