While academics debate whether smartphones are responsible for the recent surge in depression and anxiety among young people, and state and local governments across the United States experiment with solutions like free access to online therapy, a growing number of clinicians and grassroots advocates are completely rethinking how we approach mental health.
“There is good reason to wonder whether collecting all types of suffering into medicalized mental health disorders is the most accurate or ethical approach when it comes to addressing these crises,” says Dr. Zenobia Morrill, a psychology professor at William James College. The students, she adds, “are so hungry for more complex ways of understanding and doing therapy, but they struggle to find the tools, mentorship, and support in learning these skills.”
Morrill is part of a growing community of psychologists who argue that mental health must be understood in its social context. If anxiety disorders are rising, that is not a sign of a change in human biology; rather, it is a sign of a sicker society.
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