According to Mental Health America, 46% of adults in the US will experience symptoms of mental illness at some point in their lifetime. This year alone, nearly 1 in 5 adults in the US will experience a diagnosable mental illness. Surprisingly, over 56% of adults with a diagnosable mental illness did not receive any professional care for it. Why?
I suggest that one of the main reasons why we are not getting the help we need when we need it most is that we are each influenced by generational myths that stigmatize mental health. Here are three examples to consider.
1. Baby Boomer Generation (Born 1946-1964) Myth: “Showing Emotion is Weak.”
Raised by survivors of the great depression and World War 1, it makes sense that many members of the Baby Boomer Generation were taught from an early age to grit their teeth and push through difficulties without showing transparent emotions. Although “grit” is a sign of resilience, it can also lead to the conclusion that acknowledging any emotions shows weakness to one’s peers. Self-stifling one’s full emotional response to life’s difficulties (like World War II and the Civil Rights Movement, for example) leads to negative outcomes later in life.
This generational stigma leaves many middle-age to older adults with a difficulty feeling and expressing their emotions in a healthy way. Instead, emotions are bottled up – or worse yet, are coped with using substances or unhealthy eating.
2. Generation X (Born 1965 – 1980) Myth: “Needing Help is Shameful.”
Generation X lived through one of the most accelerated periods of technological advancement, better connecting them to the world. Raised by Baby Boomers, they were taught from a young age to “pull [themselves] up by their bootstraps,” or to “make [their] own way” in life. Many learned from an early age that signs of strength and value are being able to take care of oneself financially, physically, interpersonally, and emotionally.
Rugged individualism became the societal norm for these adults. Unfortunately, this generational stigma lead to a deep aversion to asking others for help. Needing help, especially help with processing one’s own mental or emotional struggles, is seen as shameful. Shame leads to isolation.
3. Millenials (Born 1981-1996) and Generation Z (Born 1997 – 2015) Myth: “Perfection = Success.”
Our two youngest generations, Millenials and Gen Z-ers, have grown up in the internet age, with immediate access to nearly any information on the planet via social media. This hyper-connectedness has benefits, including leading them to be more open to new ideas, more culturally diverse, and more accepting of others different from themselves than previous generations. However, it also has a major drawback: hyper-comparisons.
Much of what is posted on social media is a filtered version of reality, more perfect than what is true, leading young folks to unsatisfactorily compare their lives with what they see. This hyper-comparison plus typically high expectations from parents leads to more generational stigma: “If I’m not perfect in my grades, in my appearance, in my career (etc.), then I am not good enough as I am.” Unfortunately, this has lead to dramatically increased rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidality for young people in the US.
But, there is hope! Despite the scary statistics and generational stigma, we are making fantastic progress as a local community and as a nation on eliminating barriers to getting help. In the year of 2021, more adults and young people than ever before have reached out for professional mental health and substance use care.
Employers are providing more mental health benefits such as Employee Assistance Programs and days off. Local public school systems have prioritized improving students’ mental health for the past few years, including hiring social workers to provide care in each building.
As long as we continue on this path of destigmatizing mental health, we will see more lives saved, more families reconnected, and our community more uplifted. If you or a loved one needs help, there is no shame in reaching out today!
-written by Chase Cotten, Community Director at The Willow Center
