‘Following my therapist’s advice, I’m taking a day off tomorrow to recharge my energies to continue giving the best in my sessions. Can we reschedule?” So messaged my 26-year-old spin instructor. When I expressed mild frustration to a twentysomething colleague that our class had been cancelled, she seemed surprised. “Have you been therapised?” she asked.
No, I haven’t, but Gen Z increasingly have. They know how to gatekeep their time, creating boundaries and promoting self-care and are triggered when their feelings have been invalidated or they aren’t given time to heal from toxic relationships.
There are myriad reasons why the lives of children born between 1997 and 2012 are stressful. They are the first cohort who are unlikely to be better off than their parents. They’ve seen the decline of democracy and the rise of global uncertainty and war in Europe. They feel environmental angst and suffer rising rents.
They have survived a pandemic, but only via cancelled exams, an interrupted education and stern warnings of “don’t kill granny”. Much of their adolescence has been distorted by social media and many are having to enter the workplace virtually rather than in person. No wonder many feel anxious, lonely and out of their depth.
According to the think tank Resolution Foundation, the mental health crisis among the young is now so acute that more twentysomethings than those in their forties are signed off work because of illness. At least 5 per cent are economically inactive, with 34 per cent of Generation Z reporting symptoms of mental disorders that require sick leave.
Advertisement
The number of 18 to 24-year-olds prescribed antidepressants has gone up from 440,000 in 2015-16 to 570,000 in 2021-22. Once the young were the most energetic and optimistic workers and the least likely to require time out. Now they appear traumatised. Even splitting up with a partner can require a week off work to recuperate.
The NHS is overwhelmed by distressed young people and their parents desperate for help to alleviate mental health disorders. One of the Resolution Foundation’s solutions is to call for more therapists and mental health support in schools. But it’s becoming increasingly clear that we should be addressing the underlying causes of a generation’s descent into mental fragility rather than medicalising and therapising all their fears.
Bad Therapy: Why The Kids Aren’t Growing Up, published this week by the American author Abigail Shrier, points out that 40 per cent of children in the US have seen a therapist and the majority of American schools use daily online surveys to assess pupils’ wellbeing. Yet they are more unhappy than British teenagers.
Good therapy can be lifesaving and, in serious cases, the young urgently need specialised support. But Shrier suggests that by feeding “normal kids with normal problems into the mental healthcare pipeline” we are creating patients faster than we can cure them. Or as my Gen Z niece suggested: “We’ve been gaslit into thinking therapy will answer all our problems.”
According to a new King’s College London report, Youth Mental Health in Crisis, Gen Z believe that social media is a major reason for their debilitating anxieties, followed by Covid and the cost of living. It’s not enough to ban smartphones at school — the government needs to pressure big tech to stop children from accessing social media until they are at least 16. The offspring of tech billionaires in Silicon Valley aren’t allowed near these addictive sites — they learn to make go-karts instead.
Advertisement
Our education system is also playing with children’s minds, hindering rather than helping their chances of becoming well-rounded adults. Some are being pushed to excel at all costs, their lives so tutored and curated that they fear any failure and lack resilience. For those who continue to university, the levels of student debt they incur are terrifying. They panic about never being able to afford the rent, let alone mortgages and childcare, and feel helpless.
Others aren’t even learning the basic skills they will need for most jobs. Those most likely to be signed off work are least likely to have passed GCSE maths and English: 79 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds who are workless because of ill health have left school at 16 with minimal qualifications. Too many feel demotivated by the dull, repetitive curriculum.
The young need to feel a sense of purpose and progress. The most motivated students I have met have been at the university technical colleges set up a decade ago by Lord Baker of Dorking, the former education secretary. They are for 14 to 19-year-olds who want to learn hands-on skills.
Their results are impressive: 23 per cent start apprenticeships and 47 per cent go to university. Only 4 per cent are not in employment, education or training a year after they leave, compared with 11 per cent nationally. Pupils learn through projects, work experience and engaging with local businesses.
Many children would benefit more from a competent careers service rather than on-site counselling. Once the young have found jobs, employers need to play their part, encouraging training and creating promotion opportunities to prevent quiet quitting.
Advertisement
But we also need to teach children that some stress is normal. That life isn’t going to be easy. That sad stuff happens and it’s how you cope that matters. That you’re not a victim if you take responsibility for your future. That it’s normal to feel uncertain and confused at times in your teens and twenties. That going into work when you are feeling low can be helpful. That seeing colleagues and contributing are good distractions and may boost your self-worth.
Your company and your country might also appreciate it.
