Study: Students more stressed now than in depression

Psychology Extra Credit

What?

Based off of a survey done in 2007 to 77576 high school and college students, the comparison was made to the depression, anxiety, and stress in today's young adults to the depression, anxiety, and stress with young adults during the depression. Studies showed that the psychological symptoms the survey prompted answers for proved that in most cases, those psychological disorders that contain high stress were five times worse than those cases in the late 1930's. There were some disorders, including hypomania, depressioin, and psychopathic deviation that were six times worse than in 1938. 

Hypomania is a disorder related to high anxiety and unrealistic optimism. The average for young adults to have this disorder in 1938 was 5% and now it is 31%. 

Experts have concluded from this 2007 survey that psychological stresses, anxieties, depressions, and tensions may be based off of several factors. Some reasons that were mentioned in the article included the following: living in a very fast paced world, the focus of popular culture on impossible external features, heightened awareness of mental services, growing interest in being rich, overprotective parents not letting their children problem solve, increased materialism, and rising divorce rates.

So What?

So, what do we do with the information of all these rising factors in the world that are adding to the percentage of those who suffer from depression, anxiety, or high stress? One other reason given in the article for the increase in these psychological states was that children in this generation have grown up with the mindset, "You can do anything!", and it has created false expectations. The way must be there for the child to accomplish what they wish to succeed at. Unless the opportunity is provided for the child to find his/her passions, then they will not be able to do the 'anything' that was meant by this statement. The other half of the statement I often heard growing up was that you could do anything.... that you put your mind to. I always wanted to be a tight rope walker. From the time I was 3 until I was 10 and realized that I was neither skinny enough or in a situation where I could become a part of a circus. I could not do 'anything.' I could not break the laws of gravity and fly. I could not turn my bike into Rumplestiltzkin's spinning wheel of gold. There were plenty of 'anythings' I found out early on that I could not do. Luckily for me, I did not become depressed or discouraged, but I just moved on. Other cases, 6 times the cases than in the time of the great depression, are not so lucky. Some of it may just be for attention or because the ability to diagnose psychological disorders has improved. What ever the case may be, teachers can play a role in improving this sad statistic in their own classroom by being aware and learning ways to demote this kind of unreal optimism that promotes false expectations. 

Now What?

Teachers play a large role in introducing the kind of motivation that children stick with as they grow throughout their lives. If their motivation to be well behaved is internal, than they will have better chances of controlling their success and personal mental wellness. If, on the other hand, the student learns motivation only through avoiding punishment or seeking rewards, the motivation will be external and not lasting. Besides just the motivation that is introduced to the students in the classroom, there are a plethora of other ideals taught/facilitated in the classroom that allow a person to live without these psychological downers. Some of these principles are the following: realistic career opportunities with realistic ways to achieve the education needed, planning goals and accomplishing them, taking pride and joy in personal success and individuality, social and moral reasoning skills, facilitation of activities that promote problem solving skills and in turn promote confidence, help with passing through Kohlberg's stages, and creatively designed lesson plans that encourage students to discover talents and develop passions. A successful teacher will be able to provide a safety in her class that may or may not exist in the home. It is true that a teacher cannot change what goes on at home, but it is true that the teacher can create multiple opportunities for the success of the individual so that they are better emotionally, physically, and mentally equipped to handle the stresses at home or in the world in general.