Why Our Children Are More Depressed And Anxious

BAY AREA, CA – Dr. Michael Rubino, a Bay Area psychotherapist who has worked with teens for more than 19 years, addresses why he is seeing an increase in anxiety and depression in children.

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By Michael Rubino, Ph.D, MFT

I have been seeing more and more teenagers who are complaining of anxiety and depression. Many of these teenagers are also afraid to go to school, too. I have also been seeing more teenagers being placed on home/hospital for school. This means a teacher comes to the house once a week instead of the teenager going to school. This is an alarming trend.

I have also been hearing more teenagers talking about needing to carry a knife with them for their own safety. They tell me you never know when someone might try to attack you.

These are not juvenile delinquents or gang members. These are average teenagers. They come from healthy families and are doing well in school and are not involved in drugs. This need they feel to protect themselves is alarming.

However, if you take a step back and look at what these children have seen over their lives, it makes sense.

Most of these teenagers were very young on 9/11 when the United States was attacked. Since 9/11, they have also heard on the nightly news about two wars, terrorist alerts and attacks around the world.

In addition to terrorism, this is the first generation growing up with mass shootings.

According to ABC News, from 2000 to 2015 there have been 140 mass shootings, and since January 1, 2016, there have been more mass shootings than the previous 15 years.

According to statistics on shootings, every day, 36 people are killed in the United States by a gun. This does not include suicides.

For the youth group we are discussing, suicide is the third leading cause of death for children between 10 and 18 years old, and using a gun is one of the most popular methods of suicide.

Now, in addition to these facts stated above, think about what these children see on the news and the video games they play.

Anytime there is a shooting incident in the United States, there is pretty much 24-hour news coverage of the event for days. Also when there are bombing or shootings in Europe, there is 24-hour news coverage for days.

And now we have moved on to covering funerals. When the officers were killed in Dallas the memorial was televised nationally.

If we look at the video games these kids are playing, most have to do with killing and death. And since computer graphics have significantly improved, many of these games look real.

Looking at all of this, it begins to make sense why I am seeing more depressed and anxious teenagers who fear for their lives. These teenagers are being traumatized. They may not be experiencing the trauma personally, but they are experiencing vicarious trauma with all of the pictures on television and news reports and realistic video games these teenagers are playing.

We have never had a generation of children grow up with the amount of trauma that these children have.

Even children growing up during World War II didn't experience this amount of trauma. We didn't have instant access to news nor did we have the graphic videos being shown by the news media.

The question now becomes, what do we do? Well, we can not change the world unfortunately.

However, we can monitor how much exposure our children are receiving to mass shootings when they occur. We can monitor the video games they are playing and limit access to games that focus on violence and killing.

We can demand that the Congress pass gun control laws that make sense. No one needs an assault weapon to hunt a deer.

We can also listen to what our children are saying and talk to them about their concerns.

When a mass shooting occurs we can ask them how they are feeling, ask if they have any concerns and reassure them that you are there as their parents to protect them.

Finally, if you start to notice a change of attitude in your child that you are concerned about, have them assessed by a psychotherapist. There is nothing to be ashamed of if a child needs therapy.

We are exposing children to situations that most adults have problems dealing with themselves.

You may find it very upsetting to talk to your child about these incidents.

For these reasons and many more, if you feel your teenager has been traumatized vicariously make an appointment with a psychotherapist who specializes in treating teenagers and victims of trauma. Our kids have had to deal with a lot. We can help make it easier for them growing up in this time by providing the help they need.

Also from Dr. Rubino, see:

• Teens, Tweens And Cell Phones: Advice For Parents
• Parents, Do You Know the Difference Between IEP and 504 Plan?
• Does My Child Need An ADHD Assessment?

Dr. Rubino of Pleasant Hill has been working with middle school and high school students for over 19 years, and is one of the founding members of the National Alive & Free Program, a program designed to work with teens. For more information about Rubino's work and private practice visit his website at www.rcs-ca.com or follow him on Twitter @RubinoTherapy.

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