Studies, licensed professionals say COVID, social media, smartphones are new factors in teen mental health
On a window outside the Unified Media Center at Cathedral High School in Indianapolis, members of the school’s Empowering Healthy Minds Club stick Post-it notes for affirmation and encouragement. (Submitted photo)
(Editor’s note: This is the second in an occasional series of articles titled “Mental Health and Wholeness” addressing mental health, including the role of faith in seeking wholeness. Future topics will include marriage and family, children, addictions and the role of spiritual direction. The names of the parent and child in this article have been changed to maintain privacy.)
By Natalie Hoefer
Maria knew something was wrong with her then-teenage daughter, Isabelle.
“It happened when we switched her from being homeschooled to going to a school when she was around 13 or 14,” she said. “She started not wanting to go to school, having stomach aches a lot, not wanting to be away from home. She didn’t want to go out much, even with friends.”
First, Maria and her husband took Isabelle to a doctor to rule out any physical problems. When the bill of health came back positive, the doctor recommended counseling as the next best step.
And so, in the mid-2010s, Isabelle began to receive counseling.
She was not alone. Between 2009-2019, the rate of adolescent depression nearly doubled, increasing from 8.1% to 15.8%, according to a 2021 analysis of National Survey on Drug User and Health (NSDUH) studies during that decade.
The most recent NSDUH study for 2022 shows that figure has risen to 20.1%.
(Related: Mental health resources are available in central and southern Indiana)
“Hormones are a factor” in teen mental health, says Diana Buxton, a licensed clinical social worker at Roncalli High School in Indianapolis. “The teen brain is still developing. And teens generally just don’t talk to their parents.”
But when does “just being a teenager” cross the line to a true mental health issue? What are the main causes of adolescent depression and anxiety? Why is it increasing? And how can faith help the healing process?
This article explores those questions, with insight from two Catholic high school social workers, a Catholic licensed mental health counselor, and studies on two unique causes of stress and anxiety for modern teens: the COVID-19 pandemic and social media.
‘Pandemic brought out more stressful moments’
Some sources of teen anxiety and depression are fairly common. The list of causes the three interviewees identified were almost identical: pressure to make good grades, to excel in sports, to be accepted by peers; anxiety about the future; and family issues.
But all three also noted the tremendous impact of the pandemic and social media—particularly via cell phones—that today’s adults never dealt with as adolescents.
“The pandemic has had a huge impact on teen mental health,” says Aly Weaver, a social worker at Cathedral High School in Indianapolis. “Most students were [essentially] by themselves for two years trying to learn online. As a result, many teens suffer from social anxiety, generalized anxiety and/or depression.”
Weaver notes that teens might struggle with how to communicate their feelings, but that emotions like “hopelessness or persistently feeling sad for no reason have come up frequently in sessions with kids.”
Her local observations match up with national findings.
A 2022 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study of the pandemic’s effect on teen mental health found that in 2021, 37% of high school students reported they “experienced poor mental health” during the pandemic, and 44% reported “persistently feeling sad or hopeless during the past year.”
“The pandemic brought out more stressful moments,” says licensed mental health counselor Justin Griswold of Pax Counseling, LLC, in Indianapolis. “For some, the extreme isolation and loneliness they felt was traumatic.
“It’s been a hard transition from online to face-to-face for a lot of people, including teens,” he adds. “And I think that results in a struggle to make and maintain good friendships, especially in teens.”
But the pandemic is not the main source of teen depression today, according to an April 11, 2022, article by Derek Thompson published in The Atlantic.
In the article, he quotes Laurence Steinberg, a psychologist at Temple University in Philadelphia: “Rising teenage sadness isn’t a new trend, but rather the acceleration and broadening of a trend that clearly started before the pandemic.”
That trend is social media, particularly through the use of smartphones.
‘Definitely a major factor’
“Around 2012, I noticed abrupt shifts in teen behaviors and emotional states.”
So says psychologist Jean Twenge in her Sept. 15, 2017, article in The Atlantic called “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?”
After further research, she made a discovery: 2012 was the year when the number of Americans who owned a smartphone exceeded 50%. By 2015, the number had risen to 92%.
Other studies also show a correlation between social media use—primarily via smartphones—and teen depression.
For instance, a 2020 internal study by Facebook, Inc., (now Meta) found that one-third of teen girls said Instagram “made them feel worse,” yet they felt “unable to stop themselves” from logging on.
Being “unable to stop” is true regardless of gender. Teens ages 13-18 spend an average of nine hours on their phones per day—not including use for homework—according to a 2021 study by Common Sense Media.
Part of the inability to put the phone down is that age group’s use of social media as an indication of acceptance, says Griswold.
“One of the main tasks as teens is to stand out, to figure out ‘who am I compared to everyone else,’ trying to fit in and be accepted by a group of people,” he explains.
But there is another, more scientific factor affecting teens’ excessive use of smartphones, Griswold adds.
“Phones are more like slot machines than a place for information,” he says. “They trigger a dopamine response that makes you want more, and teens are extra sensitive to dopamine.”
The negative impact on teens of all this screen time—particularly using social media—is pervasive. Griswold lists dangers like “exposure to hurtful people, cyberbullying, porn, the stress of always being on, always in contact, the fear of missing out—FOMO.”
And by staying up too late “connecting with friends,” teens are “not getting homework done, not getting enough sleep so they’re tired and can’t regulate their emotions as well,” he adds.
Buxton says social media use “is a major factor in mental health issues in the students I see.
“The comparison to others causes a lot of self-esteem issues,” she says, and information overload “causes a lot more feelings of confusion, pressure and stress.
“There are other factors too, of course, and the ‘nature versus environment’ debate is still active in regards to mental health.”
Untangling the pieces
Regardless of the cause for teen anxiety, stress and depression, counseling can help.
“Imagine a ball of yarn tangled with many different colors. These are your thoughts and feelings all tangled together,” Weaver says in explaining the benefits of teen counseling. “Sometimes it can be really hard to tease through each piece by yourself. Without tools, these strings can stay tangled or stuck in place.
“A therapist is there to help you look at each piece of yarn separately and untangle them to make more sense.”
As stress and anxiety levels rise, symptoms such as “isolation, trouble sleeping, being tired, grades decreasing, physical pains can all be indicators of a mental health issue,” says Buxton.
In the case of physical symptoms, she advises first taking the teen to a doctor to rule out any physical problem, like Maria and her husband did for Isabelle.
For behavioral symptoms, Griswold offers adults three tests to determine if a teen needs help: intensity, duration and the teen’s normal character.
For intensity, he says, consider if the teen’s emotions “are larger than what would normally fit into a response, like if you take away their phone and they react violently and start throwing things.”
Similarly, note how the behavior “fits with the typical character of the child,” says Griswold. “If the child was irritable growing up or short-tempered, is [their current behavior] just part of their character? If it’s a large, drastic change from who they are, they might need help.”
Finally, he says, consider how long the behavior has lasted.
“Depending on the emotion, if it lasts more than one to six months” it could be time to “consider if this is a growing pain or if it’s time to seek help,” says Griswold.
He recommends parents ask their struggling teen open-ended questions like, “What changes have you noticed in yourself?” and ask if they’d like help.
“You can say, ‘Let’s try one or two [counseling] sessions and see what you think,’ ” he suggests.
For non-parents who notice a teen struggling, Griswold recommends they talk to the parents “about the changes they’ve noticed and the impact it’s having. Come from a place of concern to soften that topic, like, ‘I’m seeing a big struggle your child is going through.’ ”
One point all three specialists emphasize is the importance of taking action at any sign or mention of suicide or self-harm.
“If you see harm, it doesn’t matter if they want help or not—they need help,” says Griswold.
Buxton adds that if an adolescent tries to take his or her life or mentions thoughts of doing so, “That always needs to be taken seriously. They might say, ‘I was just joking’ or ‘I didn’t mean it,’ but it still needs to be taken seriously because there might be something else going on.
“When it’s not talked about is when problems persist and become more complicated.”
‘Integration of the whole person’
If the teen is open, incorporating faith into counseling “can bring a sense of purpose,” says Griswold, who holds a master’s degree in counseling from Franciscan University of Steubenville with an emphasis on Catholic/Christian counseling.
“It can help them understand their value and worth, and a lot of them are asking about their value and worth. Faith gives an answer to that.”
And drawing upon the Catholic faith in particular can help counselors assist their clients—teen or otherwise, he adds.
“Our faith helps [counselors] really understand the integration of the whole person—not just work on symptom reduction. It offers an understanding of how emotions, intellect, heart, soul, mind and body work together.”
Weaver says if a student desires, faith is woven into her sessions, “whether that means encouraging, praying, going to Mass or just using the time to reflect. That helps in many ways.”
The counseling team at Roncalli offers prayer cards and saint key chains to the students they counsel, says Buxton, “like patron saints, getting specific with what a student is dealing with. And we often offer the opportunity for a student to go to adoration during the school day if they’re having a tough time.”
Understanding and empathy ‘can go a long way’
Isabelle did go to a few counseling sessions, says Maria. But the ultimate answer for her mental health struggle was anxiety medication.
“Her symptoms diminished with the use of the medicine,” says Maria. “Now she’s off the medication and has no symptoms.”
Still, the counseling was beneficial.
“Even though it was only a few sessions, counseling gave her some different techniques to use when she was feeling anxious,” Maria says. “The other day I overheard her tell her sister, ‘Here’s what you can do when you feel anxious.’ ”
Such open talk about mental health is important, says Buxton.
“Sometimes I hear people say mental health is a buzzword or that teens use that as a crutch,” she says. “That’s a harmful way to look at it.
“We’re all dealing with something. The more understanding and empathetic we can be will go a long way.”
(Those experiencing thoughts of suicide or a mental health or substance use crisis should call or text 988 to reach the 24/7 national Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. A list of Catholic-informed counselors can also be found at lnkiy.in/MentalHealthMinistry and lnkiy.in/CounselorList.) †
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