Young people are growing ever more depressed. Is modern life to blame?

Our mental health has suffered over the past 80 years. The causes are complex, but it’s exhausting to live in a society where asking for help equals failure

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‘If modern life is unkind to our mental health, it’s no doubt in part because so many young people fear that admission of vulnerability will affect their employment, or their relationships, at a time when their futures are already far less clearer than those of their parents.’ Photograph: Alamy

Anxiety and depression are isolating illnesses, but sufferers are hardly alone: according to a new book, the number of young Americans who’ve struggled with these mental health issues over the last 80 years has increased steadily. Sociologist Jean Twenge, the author of Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled – and More Miserable Than Ever Before, told New York magazine this week that her research had led her to conclude that “modern life is not good for mental health”. By measuring the frequency of symptoms associated with anxiety and depression – poor sleep, memory problems, concentration problems, and difficulty learning – Twenge came to believe that our forefathers and mothers were much happier that we are today. Or, at least, that they were less depressed and anxious.

This upswing in mental illness doesn’t surprise me. I am one of those young Americans. Or rather, I was: 20 years ago, I was first diagnosed with and treated for major depression. I was 14. I’m less young, now, but I know that it’s likely that I’ll always be depressive.

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