Scenario: Depression and anxiety among teens and adolescents has doubled over the last 30 years with concrete implications for sufferers, including likelihood to graduate high school, lifelong success and happiness, and even their likelihood for committing suicide. You are part of an inter-agency governmental consortium deciding how to best allocate resources to address this problem. At the end of a three-day conference you have heard from several organizations making suggestions. You have been called upon, in your capacity as a sociologist, to issue a report of your suggestions based upon the conference proceedings. Although a sociologist by training, your opinions are your own. Using the NAMI fact sheet, the ABC News article (see Canvas), and the presentations described below, please write a 4-5 page paper as follows below.
Substance – Paper Organization: You should have an introductory paragraph that tells the reader what you propose to do in the report, why you are doing it, and tell us what you will eventually suggest. For the rest of the paper you should do three things:
Explain House’s “supply-side” healthy policy approach, giving at least two examples from the presentations below with an explanation as to why they qualify as such;
Explain the “demand-side” policy approach, giving at least two examples from the presentations below including an explanation as to why they qualify as such; and
Make a suggestion to policymakers on how to address this problem. Explain whether your suggestion follows the supply-side approach, the demand-side approach, or some combination thereof. Justify your suggestion with a reflection on your own social values (e.g. personal freedom, equal access, or short- versus long-term solutions, among others).
You may choose to combine no more than TWO suggestions from the organizations below when making your own. You are working in a context of constrained resources that force you to make hard choices. You need not choose the same examples that you used to explain the supply & demand side approaches. Â
POST
Fictional Presentation Summaries:Biological Solutions Group (BSG): This is a group of neuroscientists, neuro-biologists, and representatives of the pharmaceutical industry. They argue that anti-depressant and anti-anxiety medication has proven a useful means for treating teen/adolescent depression and anxiety. They have asked for federal funding to both expand education and access regarding anti-depressants. Particularly, they want federal money directed in two ways: 1) increased research on the neural pathologies of depression/anxiety and 2) a federal subsidy for teen access to the five major anti-depressants. This would essentially make anti-depressants free for all minors regardless of their guardian(s)Â’ ability to pay for them.Economic Disparities Coalition (EDC): This is a multi-disciplinary group of academics with a wide-ranging set of arguments based in economics, public health, and public policy. They argue that we need to address underlying problems like the recent economic downturn, the increase in working hours, the decrease in real wages, and an epidemic of poverty. The have three proposals: 1) reduce the work week to 30 hours, which would increase the number of jobs available, decrease work-related stress, and give people more free time to pursue their interests, 2) expand labor laws to ensure that no one provides unpaid overtime or works at unpaid internships, and 3) expand educational and professional opportunities by establishing federally-mandated tuition caps and by expanding (non-loan) federal scholarships to undergraduates. This, they argue, would give teens and young adults hope for their future.Psychiatric Provider Network (PPN): This group of psychiatric professionals endorses the expansion of therapeutic services for teens and adolescents. In response to BSG, they pointed out that some anti-depressants have actually increased feelings of suicide among teens/adolescents. They have two suggestions: 1) a marketing campaign to increase awareness of depression and anxiety among parents and children, 2) a federal requirement that non-pharmaceutical therapies be covered by all insurance plans, and 3) a federal subsidy for therapeutic services among those living below the poverty level.
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abcnews.go.com
Today’s Teens Have More Mental Ills
Than Ever
ABC News
Mental illness may be a sign of the times, a new study suggests.
According to researchers, psychological problems among teens
have been on the rise since the 1930s, and Americans’ obsession
with material gains and success may be to blame.
“We have become a culture that focuses more on material things
and less on relationships,” said lead researcher Jean Twenge,
author of “Generation Me” and an associate professor of
psychology at San Diego State University. Twenge said this focus is
affecting mental health on a societal level.
Play
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The study, which has not yet been officially published, analyzes
data on the mental health and personality of over 63,000 high
school and college students between 1938 and 2007.
Drawing on self-reports from widely used psychological surveys,
including the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory,
researchers found that over time, more and more students are
reporting symptoms of mental illness.
Eight-five percent of college students today fall above the average
mental illness “score” of students in the 1930s and 1940s.
Students today report they feel significantly more isolated,
misunderstood, and emotionally sensitive or unstable than in
decades past. Teens were also more likely to be narcissistic, have
low self-control, and express feelings of worry, sadness, and
dissatisfaction with life.
Although self-reported symptoms would not be enough to diagnose
mental illness in these populations, the authors suggest that
changes in students’ responses over time suggest a real change in
mental health levels.
‘Prozac Nation’ Coming True?
The authors are also quick to point out that increases in these
symptoms may even be underestimated in recent years because of
the increasing number of Americans on antidepressant and
anti-anxiety medication.
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In more recent times, they write, “those answering the survey might
have had their mental state stabilized already by drugs.”
A study out of Northwestern University released Monday offers
further support to this claim: researchers found that patients on the
antidepressant drug Paxil experienced changes in personality, such
as being more outgoing. As a possible result, they may have been
less likely to suffer from psychological problems or relapse into
depression.
Could Economic Depression Lead to Personal
Depression?
Why are teens having more psychological issues with each passing
generation?
One possibility put forth by the researchers is that levels of mental
illness increase when the economy goes south. However, given
that the economy has fluctuated considerably since the 1940s but
this trend has only showed a steady increase, researchers say this
is unlikely.
It is also possible that students today are more willing to admit to
having psychological problems than generations past because of
increasing awareness and acceptance of mental health issues.
But according to Twenge, the MMPI controls for this “socially
desirable responding.” The data do not suggest that the extent to
which respondents adjust their responses to give the “right”
impression has changed over time.
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The most likely culprit, the authors write, is that changes in our
cultural values are behind teens feeling more anxious, depressed,
isolated, and stressed-out.
Materialism at the Core
“When you talk about generational change — as this study does -it’s really about changes in the culture,” Twenge said.
The researchers cannot say for sure which societal changes are
behind this change, but looking at students’ responses concerning
things like the importance of money or the value of family and
personal relationships, researchers say an increasingly materialistic
culture is likely at fault.
“These results suggest that as American culture has increasingly
valued extrinsic and self-centered goals such as money and status,
while increasingly devaluing community, affiliation, and finding
meaning in life, the mental health of American youth has suffered,”
the authors write.
Consumer Culture May Be the Culprit
Experts in psychology and psychiatry agree.
Margit Burmeister, professor of psychiatry and human genetics at
the University of Michigan, said it “makes very good sense with
what we know of lifestyle changes in the past 50 years” that our
consumer culture is affecting mental illness.
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She added that “genetic vulnerability [to mental illness] is the other
side of the coin that needs to be kept in mind” — in other words, as
our society piles more and more stress onto its citizens, those who
are predisposed to crack under the pressure, will.
“The same stress level that energizes one individual may trigger
depression in another,” Burmeister said.
Dr. Bruce Rabin, medical director of the Health Lifestyle Program at
the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, said that beyond our
society’s focus on external goals, the stress level among parents in
recent times has impacted the type of children we raise.
Children today “lack meaningful, healthy role models,” Rabin said.
“They learn from those they love…if role models are short tempered
[or] tell children to leave them alone because they are under a lot of
stress…there will be an effect on the child’s mental health
development.”
In this way, he said, children learn which aspects of life to make a
priority. Relationships take a back seat, and work, success, material
gains take precedence.
Treatment for the Modern Mind
So what does this mean for the coming generations?
“Whether this trend has topped out or will continue upward remains
to be seen,” the authors write, but these results suggest that the
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demand for mental health services is likely to increase in the
coming decades.
And we “might need to re-think preventing and treating depression,”
Burmeister said.
If increased materialism and decreased community are really to
blame — at least in part — for this trend, the authors write, then
interventions may have to be taken at the societal level.
They add, “knowing which larger social trends… may lead to more
[psychological problems] is an important starting point in building a
society of people with better mental health.”
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Mental Health Facts
CHILDREN & TEENS
Fact: 1 in 5 children ages 13-18 have, or will have a serious mental illness.
20%
11%
10%
8%
20% of youth ages
13-18 live with a mental
health condition
11% of youth have
a mood disorder
10% of youth
have a behavior or
conduct disorder
8% of youth have
an anxiety disorder
Suicide
Impact
50%
10 yrs
50% of all lifetime cases of mental illness
begin by age 14 and 75% by age 24.
2nd
Suicide is the 2nd
leading cause of
death in youth
ages 10 – 24.
The average delay between onset of
symptoms and intervention is 8-10 years.
50%
Approximately 50% of students
age 14 and older with a mental
illness drop out of high school.
70%
70% of youth in state and local
juvenile justice systems have a
mental illness.
90%
90% of those who
died by suicide had
an underlying
mental illness.
Warning Signs
!
Feeling very sad or withdrawn for more than
2 weeks (e.g., crying regularly, feeling
fatigued, feeling unmotivated).
!
Trying to harm or kill oneself or making plans
to do so.
!
Out-of-control, risk-taking behaviors that can
cause harm to self or others.
!
Sudden overwhelming fear for no reason,
sometimes with a racing heart, physical
discomfort or fast breathing.
!
Not eating, throwing up or using laxatives to
lose weight; significant weight loss or gain.
!
Severe mood swings that cause problems
in relationships.
!
Repeated use of drugs or alcohol.
!
Drastic changes in behavior, personality or
sleeping habits (e.g., waking up early and
acting agitated).
!
Extreme difficulty in concentrating or
staying still that can lead to failure in
school.
!
Intense worries or fears that get in the way
of daily activities like hanging out with
friends or going to classes.
4 Things Parents Can Do
Talk with your
pediatrician
Get a referral to a
mental health specialist
Work with
the school
Connect with
other families
This document cites statistics provided by the National Institute of Mental Health. www.nimh.nih.gov
This document cites statistics provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. www.cdc.gov
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