Written by / First Psychology Writers
Editor / Tommy
China has surpassed other countries to become the country with the largest number of people with depression in the world.
According to the 2022 China Mental Health Survey, 50% of depressed patients are students, and the lifetime prevalence of depressive disorders among adults in mainland China is 6.8%, of which 3.4% are depressed, and there are currently 95 million people suffering from depression in mainland China, and about 280,000 people commit suicide every year, of which 40% suffer from depression.
Back in 1970, when the Japanese heard that depression medication had been invented in the United States, they thought it was nothing more than a scam by the Americans, because at that time, people didn't know anything about depression.
When it comes to depression, which is considered a "fashionable" disease, we are inevitably confused:
A few decades ago, our elders struggled with a planned economy that could not meet even basic survival needs, let alone freedom and personal pursuits.
However, despite the difficult living conditions, cases of suicide due to depression were extremely rare at that time.
Today, on the other hand, the symptoms of depression in adolescents have increased significantly.
According to a survey report in the United States,
As of 2016, depression was 20 percent among girls and 5 percent of boys among U.S. adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17.
There is an opinion that there may have been cases of suicide due to depression in the past, but at that time people did not have a clear understanding of depression, and many people did not even know that they were sick.
There is some truth to this view, and if we take a closer look at the suicide rate among teenagers in recent years, we can see that the claim is not alarmist.
Statistics show that
From 1999 to 2015, the suicide rate among adolescent girls in the United States doubled;
From 2008 to 2017, Australia's suicide rate rose from 10.9 to 12.6 per 100,000 people, an increase of 13%.
In China, suicide has become the leading cause of death among people aged 15 to 34, with more than 150,000 successful suicides each year and about 2.5 million suicide attempts nationwide each year.
1. The depressed "I Generation"
In 2017, psychologist Jean M. Twenge released her new book, Generation i.
The so-called Generation I refers to those young people who have a rising suicide rate.
The reason why they are called "i-generation" is because they grew up under the influence of the iPhone and the Internet.
Compared to their predecessors, the children of Generation I have been exposed to the Internet since they were young and live in the online world.
Compared to the previous generation, they drink and smoke less, drive safer, start sex later, listen more to teachers and parents, and are more tolerant of society.
The current generation of adolescents is delayed in starting smoking and drinking, not entirely because they are more rational or self-controlled, but mainly because they are more slower to mature.
In her research, psychologist Jen Twingey found that young people, known as Generation I, reach the same level of psychological maturity on average three years later than the previous generation.
This means that the psychological qualities that the past generation has already shown at the age of 15, the I generation will not be visible until the age of 18.
Scholar Wan Weigang has also proposed that although modern society provides more security for young people in terms of physical security, their psychological state is more fragile.
Depression is an emotional state that manifests itself as a persistent exacerbation of negative emotions.
Patients often feel depressed and depressed for a long time.
They tend to underestimate their talents and abilities and overestimate the difficulties they face.
This inaccurate judgment leads them to despair, often believing that no matter how hard they try, the result cannot be changed.
Psychologist Zeng Qifeng has a profound explanation of depression, describing depression as "suggesting that this state is the result of a severe blow to self-worth."
2. The association between the Internet and depression
In the new era, WeChat and Facebook seem to be blamed for the increase in depression among women.
Research by social psychologists shows that the amount of time people spend on mobile phones and computers is directly proportional to the degree of depression.
On a day-to-day basis, if the screen time does not exceed two hours, the individual is usually healthy;
Beyond this time limit, the risk of depression increases with increased screen time.
However, there is one condition for this conclusion:
If an individual has a rich social life, the likelihood of depression does not increase even if the screen is used for long periods of time.
On the other hand, the risk of depression is greatly increased for those "otaku" and "otaku" who rarely communicate with the outside world and spend time online.
The data shows that
In the first half of 2018, the average Chinese spent five hours a day on their mobile phones, up 66.7 percent from two years ago, most of which was occupied by activities such as social media, short videos, photo shoots and games.
The association between prolonged screen use and depression is mainly due to the fact that this habit takes up time that should be used for interpersonal interactions.
Since humans are social creatures, prolonged isolation and lack of communication naturally lead to depression.
This is why the punishment of isolation is extremely terrible for criminals.
Considering gender differences, depression rates among American adolescents are 5% for boys and up to 20% for girls.
Twingi's research reveals that
Girls spend far more time on social networks than boys when they use their phones, which is the main reason for the higher rate of depression among girls.
There are two main reasons why social networks can trigger depression:
First, most of the pictures on social networks have been carefully retouched, and seeing many people who are more beautiful than themselves is easy to make girls anxious;
The second is the more important reason for feeling isolated.
Boys may not be concerned when friends go out together without informing you, but for girls, the situation can trigger a significant sense of isolation.
Sociologists have made a discovery:
The photos shared by girls in their social circles may be intended not only to commemorate, but to show those who were unable to participate: "
Haight and Luganov point out in their book The Pampered American Mind,
If you want to hurt a lot of American boys, you can give them guns, and if you want to hurt American girls, you just have to give them mobile phones.
3. Social security and psychological endurance
When discussing psychological endurance, different people can react very differently to the same event.
Resilient people can find new social circles even if they feel isolated, while people with weak psychology may fall into chronic depression with a single sentence.
The answer, Haidh and Luganov argue, lies in our society becoming too secure.
Both the United States and China attach great importance to the protection of minors.
In the past, teachers might have punished students severely, but now any excesses are made public and can trigger serious consequences, such as the suspension of the school principal.
Our families and societies have given our children unprecedented protection and rights, a world of difference from the strictness of parents and teachers in the past.
This environment makes children extremely sensitive, they have not experienced real insecurity, and therefore can be overly sensitive to anything.
These findings by sociologists are not an encouragement for parents and teachers to continue with a harsh approach to education, but rather a reminder that perhaps children should be allowed to go through some challenges and trials as they grow up.
The End -
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Keywords: female depression, psychology
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