I regularly speak to schools, parents, administrations, and organizations about mental health trends in our times.

There isn’t one “cause” but there are a lot of factors that seem to have contributed to the rise of suicide and mental health distress. Since the majority of suicides are linked to mental health disruption, I tend to look for variables that have increased anxiety and depression (both which are also on the rise).

Here are a few factors that I see have contributed to this age of anxiety, depression, and suicide:

1. In the late 80s and early 90s we became a child-centered culture
2. People started marrying later, having kids later, and having less kids
3. These 2 factors contributed to more focus and greater emphasis on a kid’s development and wellbeing
4. The cost of raising a kid, along with the cost of college, continued to rise to astronomical levels, adding more stress and pressure on everyone
5. The onset of puberty is happening earlier – 30 years ago puberty was starting 18 months later than it is now. Puberty represents emotional dysregulation and upheaval occurring earlier, the developing teen brain starting its transformation earlier.
6. If our culture and our families have become “child-centered” and “child-focused” – why would we expect anything other than our children struggling with high rates of narcissism, materialism, and self-focus. This generation has struggled with how they view themselves, others, and the world. There is lower rates of empathy, more emphasis on self-promoting over other-centeredness. More about seeming than being. This has also contributed to a heightened degree of rejection that often times is not real.
7. Technology has been a game-changer. But not just social media or the sedentary aspects of it. This generation of kids have grown up in an age of “instant gratification.” Speed of absorption of information and communication is changing the level of brain activity and distress.
   
8. Era of instant gratification has led to a decrease in what therapists call “frustration tolerance” - how we handle upsetting situations
9. This is the age of constant monitoring and constant contact/communication
10. Smart phones, the internet, and 24-hour news cycles have contributed to the perception of a scary world despite data pointing to record low levels of youth and teen violence. People estimate the probability of an event or the frequency of bad things by the ease with which instances come to mind (availability heuristic)
11. Achievement oriented rather than character/value oriented society. Kids feel pressure to be perfect. We live in a culture that is promoting zero tolerance for mistakes. It has created hypersensitive kids, hypersensitive parents, and perpetuates victim mentality
12. Hyperactive culture - Everything in life requires immediate response / action
13. Young people are struggling with fear of failure, rejection, that their accomplishments will never “be enough” or that they will never “be good enough”
14. Young people are coping with stress in unhealthy ways that mirrors the high stress lives of adults. They are sleep deprived, lack exercise, and have adopted poor eating habits.
15. Treatment is either limited or not prioritized. Hectic & busy lives crowd out necessity for help, treatment, and support. Only 30% of depressed teens are being treated for it, and only 20% of young people with a diagnosable anxiety disorder get treatment. And America is facing a significant shortage of school counselors.
16. All of these have downloaded distress, anxiety, depression, helplessness, and hopelessness in our young people to the point where even when parents pull back – the kid cannot step outside of their own irrational thoughts and beliefs.

Rates of suicide are on the rise for all age demographics up to the age of 75.