Voices

A recent study says that five times as many young people struggle with depression and anxiety than during the Great Depression. I did not find this surprising at all.

It seems the norm nowadays for everyone to be "messed up." I always believed this to be due to the popularity of the emo culture. However, I am starting to realize this is not just some cultural trend.

What happened along the way, between past generations and today? Who is to blame for these astonishing discrepancies? Is there even any blame to shoulder, or is this all a natural "phase," something that only occurs every few centuries?

I ask myself, what could our grandparents have done to mess up our parents so they in turn could mess us up? Could all these horrible childhoods really have been going on at the same time without anyone noticing? I do not know what to believe, with different theories surfacing every day and survey data to back up these generational differences.

I cannot bring myself to believe that America as a nation could have been so careless with its children to the point where so many of them have been depressed and mentally unhealthy at some point. With the media constantly blasting the latest news of suicidal trends and cults of cutters or other self-injurers, is it any mystery where notions of depression and mental instability comes from?

I've grown up in a normal town and lived a normal life. I've even written on this page about how optimistic the youth of today is. So what's the real story? My observations or the results of this study?

It is easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of school stress, unrealistic goals and expectations, especially in this ultra-materialistic society. So easy, in fact, that about a third of my friends have self-injured at some point or are depressed.

What we need is a nice, healthy dose of reality. And young people especially need someone in their lives to help them distinguish between what is a simple dilemma and extreme misfortune. Passionate teachers can help fill that role. Instead, our schools call for us to walk in the classroom, sit down, follow instructions and get out. Too often, they don't give teachers the time to connect personally with students.

Passionate teachers who understand their students realize the day only has 24 hours, and there are a million and one other activities and classes besides their own.

Let's saturate classrooms with concerned and sympathetic teachers. But is that all it would take?

I don't think so. I think we need to urge the media to focus more on the positive. Teens learn from what they see, and they could learn to treat situations optimistically rather than planning for failure.

Viviana Cruz is a junior at Newman Smith High School in Carrollton and a Student Voices volunteer columnist. To respond to this column, send an e-mail to voices@dallasnews.com.

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