COVID-era youth mental health

[Pluto]

So I was driving on the freeway in Melbourne the other day and there was a sudden reduction in speed limit in the vicinity of a bridge. As I passed I saw a young person sitting over the edge with a police officer attempting to talk him/her out of it. Poor kid. I drove right under them and have no idea what the outcome of the situation was; it would have been particularly ironic if I'd been the one to hit them, as I've criticised this method on this website before.

Then this morning I learned of an interesting survey: Four out of five young (16-24) Australians surveyed say they experienced mental health issues in the last two years. A quarter of respondents say they had thought about suicide and 15 per cent attempted self-harm. source

The article is a bit dumb because it makes out that COVID-related movement restrictions were the cause of all this hardship, ignoring the state of the environment, living costs, socioeconomic inequality, social media and all the other failures of our society that are raining like boulders on our youth. I love young people and wish I could do something about the suffering that I see in others, but I don't have answers to the practical problems anymore given I'm suffering equally and I'm now in my 40s. I am still sort-of attempting recovery but when I look to the future I only see pitch black. No wonder 'I'm sorry you are going through this' is the clichéd refrain when others are suffering. What else to say?

Anyway, I just realised I don't really have a point to all of this. So here is a bunny with a pancake on its head.

 

[Foresight]

I think covid dug it deeper but the kids have been having problems pretty much their whole life. This is a rough time in for a sense of strength, belonging, purpose and meaning in life. Modern society has us caught up in a long of detrimental things.

 

[VoidDesirer22]

So I was driving on the freeway in Melbourne the other day and there was a sudden reduction in speed limit in the vicinity of a bridge. As I passed I saw a young person sitting over the edge with a police officer attempting to talk him/her out of it. Poor kid. I drove right under them and have no idea what the outcome of the situation was; it would have been particularly ironic if I'd been the one to hit them, as I've criticised this method on this website before.

Then this morning I learned of an interesting survey: Four out of five young (16-24) Australians surveyed say they experienced mental health issues in the last two years. A quarter of respondents say they had thought about suicide and 15 per cent attempted self-harm. source

The article is a bit dumb because it makes out that COVID-related movement restrictions were the cause of all this hardship, ignoring the state of the environment, living costs, socioeconomic inequality, social media and all the other failures of our society that are raining like boulders on our youth. I love young people and wish I could do something about the suffering that I see in others, but I don't have answers to the practical problems anymore given I'm suffering equally and I'm now in my 40s. I am still sort-of attempting recovery but when I look to the future I only see pitch black. No wonder 'I'm sorry you are going through this' is the clichéd refrain when others are suffering. What else to say?

Anyway, I just realised I don't really have a point to all of this. So here is a bunny with a pancake on its head.View attachment 88942

People keep telling themselves shit is going back to normal and I don't know what that even means. Climate catastrophe is fast approaching. And now the Ukraine invasion is triggering larger budgets for military in Germany and other countries.
Shit is gonna hit the fan! I want out. I don't treat this as a spectacle like a lot of people. It feels nightmarish.

So I was driving on the freeway in Melbourne the other day and there was a sudden reduction in speed limit in the vicinity of a bridge. As I passed I saw a young person sitting over the edge with a police officer attempting to talk him/her out of it. Poor kid. I drove right under them and have no idea what the outcome of the situation was; it would have been particularly ironic if I'd been the one to hit them, as I've criticised this method on this website before.

Then this morning I learned of an interesting survey: Four out of five young (16-24) Australians surveyed say they experienced mental health issues in the last two years. A quarter of respondents say they had thought about suicide and 15 per cent attempted self-harm. source

The article is a bit dumb because it makes out that COVID-related movement restrictions were the cause of all this hardship, ignoring the state of the environment, living costs, socioeconomic inequality, social media and all the other failures of our society that are raining like boulders on our youth. I love young people and wish I could do something about the suffering that I see in others, but I don't have answers to the practical problems anymore given I'm suffering equally and I'm now in my 40s. I am still sort-of attempting recovery but when I look to the future I only see pitch black. No wonder 'I'm sorry you are going through this' is the clichéd refrain when others are suffering. What else to say?

Anyway, I just realised I don't really have a point to all of this. So here is a bunny with a pancake on its head.View attachment 88942

Btw the bunny is adorable. And that pancake is the smoothest thing I've ever seen.