Poppy Coburn finds that there has been the popularisation of ‘trauma theory’ — "the idea that most of a person’s problems can be traced back to some unresolved, vague traumatic events in their life" — related to a book that is ranked #1 in sales on the Healing section of Amazon, The Body Keeps the Score: Mind, Brain and Body in the Transformation of Trauma by psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk. This is a seven-year-old publication whose target audience is doctors specialising in post-traumatic syndrome disorders.
Coburn notes that the book's success ties in with the fact that "‘trauma’ has become the latest fad to hit feminist wellness circles":
Perhaps the reason for its enduring popularity with young, socially-conscious people is thanks to van der Kolk’s assertion that, left untreated, trauma can begin to manifest itself through physical ailments. Constant headaches? Back pain? Short of breath? Don’t call an ambulance, call a psychiatrist.
While there's no denying the reality of the link between trauma and physical or mental conditions:
What is curious is why exactly so many ostensibly normal, healthy young people believe themselves to be suffering such mental distress, without any of the typical experiences of those traditionally diagnosed with PTSD.
Mental illness and trauma disorders are different in that "trauma is explicitly defined as a responsive action to a negative external stressor":
Trauma, and the mental illness most closely associated with it (PTSD), are therefore closely linked to broader societal conditions. If there is a significant uptake in young people identifying themselves as traumatised, it stands to reason there is a significant stressor embedded in wider culture.
And that advanced societies generally are not healthy is clear from the United Kingdom statistics Coburn provides:
It is not healthy to have 1 in 8 [adults] seeking out professional mental help, nor for 17% of the adult population to be hooked on powerful anti-depressant drugs with nasty side effects.
The Children's Society in the United Kingdom gives this information:
In the last three years, the likelihood of young people having a mental health problem has increased by 50%. Now, five children in a classroom of 30 are likely to have a mental health problem.
It continues that 17 to 22 year old women are the group most at risk of developing a mental health problem, adding:
Given the prevalence of mental health problems in children and young people, it's no surprise that psychotherapists on TikTok have amassed millions of followers and likes over the past year.
Coburn concludes her article:
We should be concerned that young people pathologise their dissatisfaction with modern life, adapting in unhealthy ways to untenable societal conditions. Falling back on "trauma" as a catch-all explainer doesn’t bring us closer to a genuine solution.
To determine solutions, scrutiny of causes of distress among young people is imperative. A book just out examines their condition from the frontline perspective of California teacher Jeremy Adams, a National Teacher of the Year nominee.
In Hollowed Out: A Warning About America’s Next Generation:
Adams frets that today’s youngsters are “barren of the behavior, values and hopes from which human beings have traditionally found higher meaning … or even simple contentment.”
[He] calls them “hollowed out,” a generation living solitary lives, hyperconnected to technology but unattached from their families, churches or communities. He cites statistics showing teen depression rose 63 percent from 2007 to 2017 while teen suicide grew 56 percent. Tragically, he writes, suicide has become the second leading cause of death for the young.
Adams blames the dissolution of the American family for this [...], with marriage rates down and the number of traditional two-parent homes plummeting. Although studies have shown that regular family dinners leads to less youth “smoking, binge drinking, marijuana use, violence, school problems, eating disorders and sexual activity,” most of Adams’ students say they eat dinner alone each night, focused not on family but the device in their hand.
“The neglect of family life is one of the greatest causes of the hollowing out not only of students, but of American life,” Adams writes.
Hollowed Out highlights the lack of general awareness of young people, especially about political affairs and civics. But Adams also finds a big shift in the practice of religious life:
While only 2 percent of Americans identified themselves as “atheists” in 1984, that number was 22 percent by 2020. A college religion professor notes that when he discusses Matthew from the Bible, many students think he’s talking about Matthew Perry of Friends. And Luke? His students assume it’s the guy from Beverly Hills, 90210.
Religion has been replaced by “a mass culture of ‘banality, conformity, and self-indulgence,’” Adams writes, not to mention an obsession with technology. He notes that in the 1970s, more than 50 percent of high schoolers hung out with friends “every day,” but by 2020, that number had dropped below 33 percent.
Modern high schoolers regularly forgo traditional activities like Friday night football games to hunker down alone, “watching Netflix, Hulu, or Disney+.” That helps explain why in 2012, 49 percent of teens ranked “in person” as their favourite way to talk, but in 2018, only 32 percent did.
Young people's use of technology - smart devices - certainly is a central factor in the general malaise of the population. One of the points Adams makes is:
Studies show the average Gen Z student uses five electronic devices and has an 8-second attention span, which results in “lower grades, diminished ability to concentrate, and stunted academic achievement”.
Two other statistics from Hollowed Out illustrate the overall problem:
} In 2014, a US general was quoted in the Wall Street Journal saying “the quality of people willing to serve has been declining rapidly,” with 71 percent of current 17- to 24-year-olds ineligible due to obesity, criminal records, or mental health or drug issues.
} A survey found that while 70 percent of senior citizens could pass a US citizenship test, less than 20 percent of those under 45 could.
Based on the evidence he provides, Adams concludes:
We need to brace ourselves for what lies ahead. I write this book as an alarm bell … a project born out of worry, concern and frustration.
In identifying solutions, we can pick up some of the factors that Adams highlights as hollowing out the generation that is now entering their twenties. Chief on his list are:
} Instability in family life, and a lack of religious upbringing, both of which have a bearing on the lack of awareness of moral values such as respect for others, but also on the lack of a sense of self-esteem - within the family and as a valued child of God;
} No respect for learning in the widest sense. Families have abandoned the search for knowledge, but simply want "passing the test" to be made easy. Ideological pressures such as Critical Race Theory are also lowering standards and creating turbulence in the school setting;
} Overuse of electronic devices and social media; which lead to:
} Lack of opportunities to develop personal relationships - in person;
} Lack of opportunities to exercise, which also affects the building of social relationships, and bad eating habits.
Adams, like Coburn, has a grave concern for the well-being of young people, so commonly seen in the shape of the suffering individual. But both acknowledge the impact on society as a whole, with Coburn highlighting the present "untenable societal conditions", and Adams seeing "America's decline" gathering pace without concerted action by the older generations who are leading their descendants up a dead-end gulch.
This is the time that parents and politicians alike must show courage in putting in place whatever measure they can - it's an incremental process of protection and innovation - to endow the next generations with those personal attributes and social assets which comprise the common good. Once again it is so clear where we are at: "What do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?"
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