Tag Archives: Mental Health

Current Affairs, Science & Health, Web & Technology

Parents of the social media generation are not OK – CNN

By Samantha Murphy Kelly, CNN Business
Video by John General, Janelle Gonzalez & Sofia Barrett, CNN Business

Updated 7:16 AM ET, Wed December 8, 2021

Sabine Polak is one of many concerned parents who are struggling to navigate social media’s impact on their children’s mental health.

(CNN Business) Last September, just a few weeks into the school year, Sabine Polak got a call from the guidance counselor. Her 14-year-old daughter was struggling with depression and had contemplated suicide.

“I was completely floored,” said Polak, 45, who lives in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. “I had no clue she was even feeling remotely down at all. When I asked her about it, she just kept saying she wanted to get away from it all … but I didn’t know what that meant.”

Instagram will now tell users when to take a break from using the app After taking her to a crisis center, which banned phone use for anyone checking in, Polak learned from her daughter that the pressures of social media were driving her increased anxiety. The main source of stress: waiting for her friends to open and respond to messages and photos on Snapchat.

Source: Parents of the social media generation are not OK – CNN

Science & Health

OCD Is Not a Joke | The Walrus

Unsplash/The Walrus

People with obsessive-compulsive disorder are often depicted as Type A clean freaks. The reality is much worse

by Lisa Whittington-Hill Updated 9:37, Mar. 2, 2021 | Published 15:17, Mar. 1, 2021

With my braces and Sun In bleached bangs, I may have looked like every other teenager at my 1980s suburban junior high, but I knew something about me was different.

I was thirteen when I first noticed myself acting in ways that resembled obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), though I wouldn’t have known to call it that at the time.

It was the summer before ninth grade, the era of coming-of-age movies like St. Elmo’s Fire and The Breakfast Club. My girlfriends and I were obsessed with brat pack actors like Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, and Rob Lowe. We spent our babysitting money and allowances at the local Red Rooster, buying slushies (half Coke, half cream soda) and magazines.

At sleepovers, we pored over Teen Beat and Bop, spending hours discussing what The Outsiders star Matt Dillon was looking for in a girl or deciding which actor’s shirtless centerfold we would hang in our locker once school started.

Source: OCD Is Not a Joke | The Walrus

Science & Health

Depression Symptoms Can Include Anger, And That’s Often Misunderstood : Shots – Health News : NPR

Physicians have been taught to look for signs of hopelessness, sadness and lack of motivation to help them diagnose depression. But anger as a depression symptom is less often noticed or addressed.

Source: Depression Symptoms Can Include Anger, And That’s Often Misunderstood : Shots – Health News : NPR