MeiLi 11- Struggles as a Teen

Many of the recent articles we have been focusing on in class deal with the struggles teens face in todays society like the pressure from school, the pressure from peers and family, and even the pressure placed on themselves by themselves. We've talked about grades and the stupidity of the American schooling system. We've also read articles on mental health disorders. 

Im bringing all of these things up because in my head they all very closely relate. I was thinking about the current friends I have that struggle with mental health issues and diagnosed mental disorders, as well as people I knew as far back as sixth grade who had a bad mental health. No one can give an answer as to why they feel the way they feel and how their struggles started, all we have are guesses. Studies have shown how an imbalance of chemicals produced by neurotransmitters, such as serotonin and dopamine, in the brain play a very dramatic role in wether an individual has a mental disorder or not. But the question that always comes back to mind is "Why so much in our generation?"

When talking to my mom about it, she said it was not a main focus that most children and teenagers had to deal with in their day to day lives. Not as many people were diagnosed clinically depressed with anxiety and OCD disorders, and the number of cases of bipolar and schizophrenia were significantly lower. We threw out many theories and talked for a good two hours with my Aunt, and we came up with a few main possible reasons. First, parents today are too focused on protecting and coddling their children, valuing their happiness over the many times positive outcome of struggle and failure. Second, there is a genetic difference between the generations that causes our generation to be more susceptible to some type of mental illness. Third, the pressure teens feel on themselves grows too hefty a load to cary.  Forth, the increased cultural trends over the last 10-20 years such as drinking and smoking. And last but not lease (although the most common and annoying one) fifth, social media. Personally, I think each and every one of these options contributes to the larger reasoning behind the rapid increase in mental health issues, but it seems as though there is more to it. 

What do you think is the leading contribution as to why mental health has gotten so bad in adolescents within the recent past?