This thing that most harms children’s happiness, according to psychologists

In the United States, children and adolescents today benefit from extensive medical and psychological research. Specialists are able to diagnose and to effectively treat mental health problems. This is possible thanks to a broader arsenal of pharmacological options and increasingly targeted and sophisticated non-invasive therapies. While the quality of children’s mental health should be improving, the opposite is happening today. Indeed, children are in more difficulty than ever.

The Covid 2019 pandemic has affected to everyone’s emotional health. In 2020, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention published a study on risky behavior among young people, summarizing a decade of data. The study found that the number of high school students reporting “feelings of sadness or hopelessness that have persisted over the past year that they could not participate in their usual activities” increased by 40% between 2009 and 2019, and the number of people who considered suicide increased by 36%.

Mental health of young people at risk according to psychologists

In 2021, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an advisory regarding youth mental health. “The pandemic has exacerbated unprecedented stress that young people were already facing”, he explained. The most recent data from the surveillance survey risky behaviors among young people, dating from 2021, show that suffering is only increasing. The percentage of high school students who considered suicide increased again, from 18.8% in 2019 to 22.2%, and the percentage of suicide attempts increased from 8.9% to 10.2% during this period. period.

The omnipresence of social media, which permeates all aspects of children’s livess, plays an important role in the emotional problems of young people. Data indicates a correlation between social media use and mental health problems, particularly among adolescent girls. But something else also harms children’s mental health.

Parents often put pressure on children

It’s about parental pressure on children from a very young age so that they succeed at all costs in order to have a life without difficulties. HuffPost asked child psychologists about the biggest threats to children’s happiness today. They all spoke of parents’ relentless pursuit of their children’s happiness. As various specialists explain, this can be counterproductive for the well-being of their children long-term.

By reacting in this way, we sometimes deprive them of the opportunity to learn how to healthily manage the full spectrum of human emotions. By focusing so much on our children’s accomplishments and praising their success, we run the risk of them not knowing that we love and value them. Jennifer Cruz, a child psychologist at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, explained to HuffPost: “Protecting children from stress and difficult emotions can prevent them from developing resilience and make future challenges more difficult.” So the important thing is to teach children that even negative emotions have value. “Fear can help protect usanger helps us know that we are hurt, sadness can connect us to what is important”, concluded the psychologist.

A graduate of CELSA, I have always been passionate about journalism since my early childhood. Originally from the South of France, I left Nice, my hometown, to come live in…