Growing Up Too Fast// Emily Otts

         In his address from the APA 1998 Annual Report, Martin E.P. Seligman speaks of how the youth of the time should be the happiest ever, and yet the opposite is true. He says it is the great paradox of the 20th century. A mental disorder that used to mostly affect people in their middle age has now become associated with early teenage years. Even though this speech was over twenty years ago, I couldn't help but notice just how true that statement reads today. 

        With depression once being a thing of adulthood and not adolescence, it made me wonder, were we, as teenagers, forced to grow up too soon? Personally, I know I have had to due to many unfortunate events in my life. I also know others who have. But those are only specific examples. Not everyone has experienced what I have experienced at the same age. However, I do believe that, as a whole, teenagers have been forced to grow up faster, and that has led to depression being more common. Teenagers as a whole have been exposed to things they should not at such an age, which has altered the way they think. Teenagers have also become more sinister to each other, causing depression due to bullying and abuse. If you take a look around the world we live in, it would be no surprise as to why teenagers are depressed. We truly are middle-aged adolescence in today's age. 

I commented on Josh Naqvi and Emily Thullesen's posts. 


Comments

  1. AnonymousApril 4, 2022 at 8:47 PM

    I completely agree. I cannot count how many times I have met someone close to my age who lost their childhood due to unfortunate circumstances. I think there are many societal and religious factors that play into what our society has grown into.

    ~ Madalyn Dillard

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  2. Braylan StringfellowApril 5, 2022 at 9:18 AM

    That statement is even more true today than it was 20 years ago, and that is sad. I would say that growing up to fast may play a factor into the rise of depression in teenagers but its not the sole cause. I don’t have a complete answer to why depression is so rampant in teenagers but the things that you said certainly play a role in causing depression.

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