Why do so many kids think they have a mental health issue these days?

I like Brittany's answer a lot. I think that what is happening is a culmination of things, a confluence of things in society.

First and foremost is that parents are increasingly stressed and required to do more and more in order just to pay for bills and living expenses. It sometimes takes up too much time and leaves them exhausted , cranky and with little time to effectively parent.

Effective parenting includes KNOWING exactly what your children are doing at ALL times, managing that, teaching them how to deal with stress, feelings and being involved in their every day lives.

They should be creating a mutual relationship with their own children that makes them available to talk about anything, give mentoring ideas and support and helping them negotiate all the newness of life that children are experiencing. It can seem overwhelming to anyone at times, but a parent, healthy adult KNOWs how to negotiate life and its ups and downs.

But too often: Other children, that have no the skills,knowledge, or parenting that helps them learn what to do with feelings, or children that do not feel like a part of their own families, when in fact they are. So, they are learning from other children who do NOT know how to deal with feelings, parents and life, the WRONG things to cope, they learn to pull away from parents, instead of embracing them and working through things, they see something wrong with each and every thing a struggling parent may be doing to help the family survive, they may be told to self injure like it is cool, they are raised in a 'drug ' culture, largely brought about by medical and pharmaceutical science.Children, or anyone for that matter , that finds themselves without the proper support and healthy resouces , need to find it.

People need to see 'science' and the medical/mental health /big pharmaceutical systems for what they are.Speak up and insist on better treatment and changes necessary.

The teen years are all about finding out who we are, and societal influences create certain images that may not be at all accurate. Teens question by what is out here, mental health is a big issue. Teens want to know what normal and not normal is.

Few people get 'healed' with any of the most vocal, advertised, pushed, pressured, coerced, methods that the medical community forces on people.

As a younger person gains more knowledge, and more guidance to check things out, investigate, know what is going on , and learns to discern for themselves, they get better at making decisions.

Without that, they are at risk of making poor decisions and listening to the wrong people.

So, when the proper teaching, and support and love are not recognized by a child, they are at risk .

Once they are at risk , lots of negative influences can rush in from many directions on mass media .

Children ARE at risk , they NEED positive loving support and education. They , like everyone need others to get their back for the good things and to live in their own homes safely .

Children must learn that although parents are not perfect, they also , for the majority of parents, are not their enemies and are potentially some of their best friends and advisors throughout life.

Children need to learn to trust , trustworthy parents, their own instincs, and CONTRIBUTE by being a helpful and good child, not one constantly putting parents down for their perceived weaknesses, treat each other and parents with respect and dignity, lovingly.

It is ALL about mutual values and respect.

Parents have to know and guide a child through all that, and recognize when they need some further guidance as well.

Then there is the complex issue of finding the RIGHT help, which begins with researching the kind of help, the expected outcomes, the proven outcomes and compatibility, safety and if there is something far better than the main stream 'advertisments' everyone is bombarded with.

All of these questions and learning make for an adult that is discerning, thinking, critically thinking, assertive , socially responsible,and then takes action to support the things they agree with and the direction, not just of their own lives, but the lives of others, this country and their own families.

When a person by adulthood is thinking healthy , they have a far greater chance of being happy and healthy and making the right decisions.

Mass media is suppose to be a TOOL, in all that, one that has to be carefully monitored by Anyone, in todays world.

If the attention of 'mental health' issues has become a self serving drug culture and means of income with no healing, then it has become a racket.

Create something NEW that works better.

Gratitude and reminding oneself of all the good things we each have in our lives each day, goes a long way toward mental health and happiness.

People underestimate the numbers of people with mental health issues. Almost everyone who has a mental health issue does not seek treatment, and a lot of them have not been diagnosed. Chances are, quite a few of the people asking if they have a mental health issue could possibly have one, although they should not be asking about it online.

If they really were depresses, they'd know about it without having to ask complete strangers who probably don't know what they're talking about.

The numbers of young people with mental health problems is much higher than it was in the past and a lot of people don't seem to realize that.

Teenagers are especially susceptible to disorders such as depression and anxiety, both from genetics and because of the way they are treated by society. They are considered old enough to have to act like adults, but young enough to be treated like children. Many do not accept the fact that is it a very difficult experience to be treated this way.

Some will genuinely have an illness, but I agree, it seems to be very fashionable to have problems. I guess it is a mixture of attention seeking (seeing those who do have real problems getting attention and they want it themselves), not understanding that everyone went through body issues/exam stress/failure as a teenager and it is a normal part of growing up and finding yourself, the internet 'diagnosing' every ailment under the sun and them believing it, even though a proper diagnosis takes lots of other factors into consideration, being brought up in an 'I want it now' generation and feeling upset when they can't have everything they want without having to work for it. Are there any people out there who haven't had braces or even want a mouth full of metal? Has everyone been on medication or want it? Does everyone cut and then panic about how to hide the scars? Life is not one long happy holiday. Teenagers have to realise that life can be great as well as horrible and you have to learn to ride the waves as well as crashing onto the shore.

I sometimes debate this issue with my friends and yes you are right - a lot of people these days seem to have mental health problems I'm a big believer that the western worls has become slightly overly neurotic and the slighest thing is now deemed "a problem" and that pills are the answer. We all have up days and down days, that's normal and healthy but I think with modern day life and the problems it brings, it makes it harder for some people to cope. Problems like, the daily expense of living, divorce rates soring through the roof and people basically screwing each other over a lot more now adays, pressure put on us through the media as to what"normal" is and basically the stress of modern day life etc. and also there is much sad sad and depressing news going on - war, illness, crime, global warming and the state of the world, it's enough to depress any of us! Depression and mental problems is also, I believe, a slight affliction of the west. Although of course there are those with genuine illnesses and my heart goes out to these people. Do you hear about those in Africa who truly have nothing walking around saying how depressed they are all day? no but you do open any womans magasine anywhere else in the world pretty much and mental problems are everywhere and councellors and therapists are making a fortune out of it - synical but true.....

Sometimes it is real, and sometimes they just think they do because others have that problem. I do believe that the more time you spend on social networking, the worse you feel about yourself. Because I used to be on facebook ALL THE TIME and I started getting to the point that I was afraid to go on a social networking site because I felt I would see something that I didn't want to. So I deleted it. I am seventeen and I feel like I have some things wrong with me, but that is because I have gone through being molested and raped. And I have to live with it every day of my life, I want to seek help, but I don't have the money. A lot of kids are afraid to tell their parents that they need help, because they want to just go to a psychiatrist without their parents knowing. That's how I am. Society makes people believe that there is something wrong with them. I got diagnosed with ADHD when I was in second grade. SECOND GRADE. I was a little kid. And what was even more sad, is I was really smart and all I did when I got home I lay on the couch because I had no one to play with. I had to start taking meds. You see, it isn't always the kids fault, sometimes it is the parents or friends or doctors. Making us believe that we aren't normal.

to be honest I'm 17 years young, I'm happy I'm loving life. I think people now a days just have it easy (sorry I'm gonna talk like a 40 or something because I love how it was in the old days lol i spend alot of time talking to my grandpa ) but back then they didn't have all this stuff to post on ask questions read about all the stuff that's going so all this makes it too easy for them to think they have these problems when they really don't, as most of the time they just really want attention and back then they didn't have that many ways to bully and ill say this that causes some teens to have these problems but not all of them are bullied. and you are correct I did a research paper on social media and social networking and I came to a conclusion that being on social networking is causing teens to become more detached from the real world and more problematic with them selfs

Mental health problems have increased massively in teens recently. But also a lot of children say they have mental health problems just to seek attention.

Hi, I think the internet has a lot to answer for...I wouldn't be without my computer but for youngsters they can google anything now and there are so many forums about self harming and things like that so I think that has a lot to do with it

99% because they think it is the "IN" thing to be. I'm depressed, I tried to kill myself, no one loves me if they spent 1/4 of their time volunteering somewhere like an animal shelter they would be fine.

And sadly about 50% want to hae a problem so some dumb asssed doctor will put them on DRUGS, need or in most cases NOT.

its all to do with peer pressure, kids are not allowed to be children anymore, too much is expected of them these days. seems we don't have children anymore, they are mini adults from an early age.

Kids seem to be full of neuroses nowadays...maybe so much is expected of them, they start to feel stressed younger and younger.