14 minute read
MENTAL HEALTH STRUGGLES AFFECTING OUR YOUTH TODAY
Teresa Peters
When asked to write about “mental health struggles affecting our youth today,” I thought, boy this is a huge topic! Today in higher numbers than ever youth are struggling with their mental health. To be blunt, youth in North America are experiencing a mental health epidemic. They are dealing with so many things: anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts and actions, same-sex attraction, gender ideology, eating disorders, and more.
The Facts
The statistics are staggering. Research shows that 1 in 6 youth in the US are now experiencing a mental health condition.1 Canada’s numbers are not much different. Between 2009 and 2022, the percentage of youth who reported experiencing “persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness” rose from 26% to 44%.2 The number of youths experiencing a major depressive episode (MDE) rose from 8.13 % in 2009 to 15% in 2022.4 And according to the CDC, in 2021 30% of female youth and 14% of male youth seriously considered attempting suicide.5
But why are we seeing so many more young people affected today than ever before? While I am not an expert in mental health, I have spent numerous years working with children, youth, and young adults as a parent, a youth leader, and a pastor. The fact is that the world today is a different place. North America is now a post-Christendom society. In contrast to previous generations, we now have social media, which has become an integral part of modern life, connecting people globally. While it offers benefits like communication, self-expression, and community-building, it also poses risks which I will discuss further in this paper.
Then there is the sexual revelation. While many would say this took place in the 1960s or 1970s, I would argue that even a larger sexual revolution has taken place recently with society's acceptance and even encouragement of alternative lifestyles, sexual preferences, and practices that are embraced by our culture and governments. These changes contribute to the deterioration of the nuclear family. In 2015, only 69% of youth were living in a two-parent household, and often one of the parents was not their biological parent, instead the family unit was made up in a variety of ways due to increases in divorce, remarriage, and cohabitation.6 And that percentage has only gone down in recent years. This breakdown of the traditional nuclear family has also placed many parents outside the usual parameters of a church-going lifestyle, which makes them reticent to join a local congregation, thereby devaluing Jesus Christ in their lives and in the lives of their children. These are just the most obvious differences that contribute to the youth mental health crisis.
I have spent numerous years working with children, youth, and young adults - as a parent, a youth leader, and a pastor. The fact is the world today is a different place. North America is now a post-Christendom society.
Social Media
Let’s look first at social media. Social media has risks. Youth who are exposed to social media for more than three hours a day have double the risk of mental health struggles, compared with those who are not.7 The reason for this is that social media changes the way we think, the way we feel, and the way we live, and it does so in largely negative ways.8 Research shows that spending as little as one hour a day on social media reduces overall life satisfaction by 14%.9 The “social” part of social media is not the problem. God made us to be social creatures. The book of Genesis tells us that God Himself said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him” (Genesis 2:18 ESV). We are reminded of this in the book of Hebrews when the author writes, “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Hebrews 10:23-25 ESV). This clearly shows that our happiness here on earth depends on relationships more than anything else.
Yet, interestingly over the last two generations, there has been a decline of every other kind of socialization, apart from social media. Fewer people are getting married, volunteering, joining social groups, having people into their homes, and as we know fewer people are involved in church.10 It is next to impossible to encourage each other and stir up one another in love and good works if we are not meeting together.
Part of the problem is that social media has two negative effects. The first is FOMO or the fear of missing out. The fear of missing out is not unique to social media users, it is just that much more prevalent due to the instant gratification aspect of it. When a group of your classmates go to a party and you are not invited, you don’t just hear about it at school on Monday morning, you see photo after photo of them having a great time and, because those photos are available at a click of a button, a person’s FOMO becomes that much stronger.
The second thing that social media creates is a perceived personal self-worth based on comparisons with the curated images of others' lives. Again, this is nothing new, but before the invention of social media, people only had the stories of those they knew personally, or television and magazine articles about those beyond reach, such as celebrities, to compare themselves to. Yet, because they were celebrities, you also knew they were living in a dream world, so to speak. Now, in a matter of minutes, a person can scroll hundreds of posts of “ordinary” people they are barely acquainted with and compare their lives with their perceived impressions others. Paul warns us against this in his second letter to the Corinthians when he tells us that those who compare themselves to others have no sense, and that if we are to boast we should be boasting of the Lord (2 Corinthians 11).
Fear of missing out and basing one's self-worth on curated images of others’ lives (as exaggerated on social media) harms our young people’s mental well-being. Knowing this, addressing it, and having open and honest conversations about social media, and its pros and cons with our youth, is therefore imperative.
Gender and Sexual Confusion
In my opinion, another thing contributing to the mental health crisis faced by our youth is society's acceptance and encouragement of alternative lifestyles, sexual preferences, and practices which are being embraced by our culture, our governments, and even some church bodies.
In June 1996, Bill C-33 was passed amending the Canadian Human Rights Act to include sexual choice as a prohibited ground for discrimination, and June became “Pride Month” in Canada.11 Then in June of 1999, President Bill Clinton declared June “Pride Month” in the USA.12 In July 2005, Bill C-38 was passed, giving same-sex couples the right to marry across Canada, making it the third country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage.13 Then in June 2015, the Supreme Court made same-sex marriage legal across the United States of America.14 And in 2018 the World Health Organisation ruled that gender incongruence would be classified under sexual health issues, rather than mental disorders.15
All of this is to say that our culture is in a state of confusion, a state of slavery endorsed by its leaders and government. Denise Schick, executive director of Help 4 Families Ministry, writes that “Paul compares our sinful nature, our flesh to a slave (see Romans 6:15-23). Slaves must obey their masters, and our sinful nature naturally obeys our fleshly desires… While cultures change and frequently revise morality codes, the Bible never changes; it stands firm because it is based on God’s immutable, holy character.”16
Communicating with Our Youth
When youth are faced with a distorted understanding of sexuality day in and day out it is no wonder our young people are facing a mental health epidemic. A person doesn’t have a fully developed brain until he is in his late twenties. The constant barrage of mixed messages about sexuality can cause a great deal of stress and anxiety in the lives of our young people. Just as we need to discuss the pros and cons of social media with our youth, we also need to do the same when it comes to sexuality. Beginning as early as six years old, we need to talk about God’s wonderful creation and the powerful gift he has given us in a marriage between one man and one woman. Our young people need to be taught that this gift of sex within a marriage is something to be both celebrated and respected. They need to be taught that God didn’t make a mistake when He created them, that they are children of God knitted together in their mothers’ wombs, fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139). Being grounded in an understanding of God-given sexuality can help combat the confusion presented by today’s society that in turn can contribute to anxiety, depression, and other mental health disorders.
The church, the body of Christ, can help treat this mental health epidemic. Studies have shown that some aspect of spirituality in one’s life, ranging from being involved in a faith community to prayer, can positively correspond with good mental health. And frequent church attendance also has beneficial outcomes. Looking specifically at mental health, there was a 33% reduction in depression incidents and a lower risk of suicide for those regular attending worship services.17
So, we need to continue to encourage church attendance and involvement among our youth. We need to openly discuss topics such as: the pitfalls of social media, the gift of sex within a Godly marriage, and the importance of a strong nuclear family. We need to help by not ignoring the mental health epidemic that is occurring in our world. It is not just happening outside our church walls, it is affecting Christian youth as well. Many youth in our faith communities are hurting and they need the body of Christ to care for them. We need to face reality, normalize their experiences, and equip our youth. We need to give young people the help they need when they are experiencing mental health issues.
Beginning as early as six years old, we need to talk about God’s wonderful creation and the powerful gift he has given us in a marriage between one man and one woman.
They need to know that Jesus loves them and cares about the things they are dealing with, be that depression, anxiety, thoughts of suicide, questioning their sexuality or gender, eating disorders, struggles with friends and family, or anything else. Young people need to know that the church, their faith community will stand with them and support them. The church needs to be a mental health friendly space.
Young people today need to know that sharing struggles, anger and/or disappointments, and asking for help makes them stronger, not weaker.
As ministry leaders, we need to take a closer look at how both adult members and leaders interact with the youth of the congregation. Do young people only share their accomplishments, good grades, awards, game-winning home runs, and the like? Or do they also share their challenges, their disappointments, and their failures? Young people today need to know that sharing struggles, anger and/or disappointments, and asking for help makes them stronger, not weaker. We need our churches to be supportive safe places that allow our youth to open up and share honestly about their challenges. We need to train and equip faith mentors and partners with the tools they need to have not just the easy conversions, but the difficult ones as well.
But most importantly, young people in North America, today more than ever before, need to know of the restorative relationship given to them through Jesus Christ and that God will not abandon them.
In the language of the church, we need to catechize our young people so that they will not only know that Jesus loves them and but that He will show up for them.
Calming the Storm
Numerous times in the New Testament we see Jesus sitting with people amid their anxiety, struggles, and pain. And ultimately Jesus is the one who overcomes. There is no clearer example of this than Jesus calming the storm. In Mark 4, we read of an incident where Jesus and His disciples are together in a boat, “And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling” (Mark 4:37 ESV). Jesus was asleep in the stern and the disciples are anxious and fearful. They awake Jesus and He rebukes the wind and says to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” (Mark 4:39 ESV). This is what our young people need to hear. Jesus can and will calm the storm raging inside them.
Youth need to be taught and catechized so that they know where to find and read passages such as this one so that they can know that Jesus not only calms the storms in their lives, that He does not leave them or forsake them, but that He will also lead them to trust Him more deeply as He does with the disciples when He walks on water, telling His disciples to “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid” (Mark 6:50b).
Knowing the scriptures also gives those hurting the knowledge that it is okay to express their grief and sorrow to God. It is okay to lament. The psalms model how we can approach God with the full range of human emotions and experiences, even difficult emotions like anger, doubt, anxiety, and despair. Psalms of lament make up approximately a third of the hundred and fifty psalms. When taught to read the scriptures, young people then have, at their fingertips, prayers that recall a troubling situation where people have sought His intervention or deliverance. By catechizing our youth in the scriptures, they can find these psalms that teach us not to bottle up our pain but to honestly bring it to God in prayer. They will be assured of God’s comfort and hope amidst their suffering.
Conclusion
To summarize, youth in North America are experiencing a mental health crisis. They are also experiencing a spiritual crisis. They are living in a time very different from that of previous generations. In this post-Christendom society young people experience the risk of social media, they are surrounded by a new sexual revolution, and many live in broken homes which are not involved in church. As such, most do not have a faith grounded in Jesus Christ.
But this does not mean that there is no hope. The body of Christ can help. The church can support our young people with their mental health struggles. We can catechize our youth so that they can see themselves as exactly who they are, children of God, and teach them to seek the love, comfort, and peace that only He can provide.
Footnotes:
1“Kids,” National Alliance on Mental Illness, accessed June 1, 2024. https://www.nami.org/ your-journey/kids-teens-and-young-adults/kids/
2Alice Rice, “Nearly Half of U.S. Teens Report Feeling Sad and Hopeless: What Can Be Done?” PsychCentral, accessed June 2, 2024, https://psychcentral.com/news/teenage-mental-healthpandemic-cdc-report
3Michael Daly, “Prevalence of Depression Among Adolescents in the U.S. From 2009 to 2019: Analysis of Trends by Sex, Race/Ethnicity, and Income,” Journal of Adolescent Health 70 (2022), accessed June 2, 2024, https://www.jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X(21)00443-2/fulltext
4“Youth Data 2022,” Mental Health America, accessed June 1, 2024, https://www.mhanational.org/issues/2022/mental-health-america-youth-data#two
5“Youth Risk Behavior Survey 2011-2021,” Centers for Disease Control, accessed June 1, 2024, https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/pdf/YRBS_Data-SummaryTrends_Report2023 508.pdf
6“Parenting in America,” Pew Research Center, accessed June 2, 2024, https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2015/12/2015-12-17_parentingin-america_FINAL.pdf
7K.E. Riehm, K.A. Feder, K.N. Tormohlen, et. al., “Associations Between Time Spent Using Social Media and Internalizing and Externalizing Problems Among US Youth,” JAMA Psychiatry 76 no. 12 (2019): 1266–1273
8Chris Martin, Terms of Service - The Real Cost of Social Media (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2002), 4.
9Emily McDool, Philip Jennifer Roberts and Karl. B Taylor, “Social Media Use and Children's Wellbeing,” IZA Discussion Paper No. 10412, accessed June 3, 2024, http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2886783
10Matthew Lieberman, Social: Why Our Brains are Wired to Connect. (New York: Broadway Books, 2013), 241-247.
11“Pride Month Canada: 13th Century to Present.” Icy Canada - A Product of Icy Tales Ltd., accessed June 3, 2024, https://icycanada.com/pride-month-canada-history-of-pride-incanada/
12William J. Clinton "Proclamation 7203—Gay and Lesbian Pride Month, 1999,” The American Presidency Project, June 11, 1999, accessed June 3, 2024, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/proclamation-7203-gay-and-lesbian-pridemonth-1999
13“LGBTQ2 History,” The Canadian Encyclopedia, accessed June 3, 2024, https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/timeline/lgbtq2
14“Same Sex Marriage and the Law,” Encyclopedia Britannica, accessed June 3, 2024, https://www.britannica.com/topic/same-sex-marriage/Same-sex-marriage-and-the-law
15“Transgender no longer recognised as 'disorder' by WHO,” British Broadcasting Company, accessed June 3, 2024, https://www.bbc.com/news/health-48448804
16Denise Shick, Transgender Confusion (Ashland, Kentucky: Help4Families Press, 2016), 83.
17“Spirituality in Serious Illness and Health.” American Medical Association. JAMA Psychiatry 328 no. 2 (2022):184-197.
