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Why do so many US teens meet criteria for a mental disorder?

WASHINGTON — Around half of US teens meet the criteria for a mental disorder and nearly one in four report having a mood, behavior or anxiety disorder that interferes with daily life, American researchers say. Fifty-one percent of boys and 49 percent of girls aged 13-19 have a mood, behavior, anxiety or substance use disorder, according to the study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Behavior disorders, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, were the next most common condition (19.1 percent), followed by mood disorders (14.3 percent) such as depression.

Public Comments

1. Parents who say WEED is ok.
2. It's true teens are a marginalized, unwanted segment of society. In the USA the problem is always inside the individual, so drugs can cure it- or at least be given.
3. 'cause libs & pharma companies who want to keep them drugged have written the symptoms that way.
4. Home schooling.
5. Too many hormones and their brains are growing to fast too keep all the connections intact. This is true of teenagers everywhere but at least ours do not become suicide bombers. This is nothing new, archaeologists found a clay tablet written nearly 4000 year ago by a man making similar complaints about his teen age son and his friends.
6. A big part of it is that the Psychiatric community has turned everything into a mental disorder. Teenagers are in hormone hell and that's normal but shrinks and drug companies are tapping into a whole new market. I'm not saying that some kids don't have true emotional problems but we now have more prescription addicts in the U.S. than illegal substance users.
7. These diagnoses are just another way for big pharma to make money. These problems have ALWAYS occured. Ages 13-19 are what we in the 'older generation' (and by that I mean 30+) used to call PUBERTY. Now I guess it's call a mental disorder
8. because they are teens
9. Any personality trait can be turned into a medical disorder these days with the right doctor. Moody teenager? Bi-polar Quiet wallflower? Depression Bubbly personality? ADHD
10. Because they've expanded the term mental disorder so broadly. Unable to concentrate, mental disorder. Unhappy? mental disorder. Trouble making friends? mental disorder. Like pot? mental disorder? like Booze? mental disorder. These same professionals claim one fifth of all adults have a mental disorder as well.
11. Without sounding patronising...who doesn't have a disorder/issue these days? ''Mood disorders, anxiety, depression, behavioural issues''....do you know what that used to be called? Adolescence. Of course mental health issues are valid and real, and of course the very difficult teenage years, and chaotic hormonal changes will impact one's mental health. But in reality, we need to separate genuine cases of say, ADHD, from children being children/ teens being teens. On a wider note, I believe that in the US, E numbers, artificial additives and preservatives are very much to blame for ADHD and other behavioural problems in children. There is evidence to back this theory up, and I'd say the ridiculous US diet of government subsidised corn sugar based product and lack of fresh cooked from scratch food also has a negative impact on growing children. In the UK, I believe that children's behavioural problems can be directly linked to continued binge drinking and drinking alcohol by the mother throughout pregnancy. In other countries this would be taboo, but in the UK there are no laws/negative public opinion about drinking in pregnancy and it is only now that it is coming to light that this can impact the child, especially with behavioural issues. Also in the UK - bad parenting. I don't think this is as true in the US as the US still has some kind of moral code, whereas in the UK there are no consequences for bad behaviour/parenting/bad people. Most importantly though, life is good. And because life is good, these children go bad. Children all over the world with genuinely unbearable lives are far too pre-occupied with trying to stay alive to worry about depression or anxiety. Some of the most happy and well adjusted children can be seen in places like Africa, where a tiny gift will be met with immense gratitude. In America however, the land of plenty, everyone has everything but knows the value of nothing. Popular culture is squalid and meretricious, society revolves around the latest Paris Hilton scandal and your worth is judged by the car you drive. Who wouldn't be depressed?
12. Teenagers have hormones racing and peer group pressure and then they have the people the media idolise drug takers in rehab fill every second page of every sensationist teen mag What happened to all the feel-good stories of ORDINARY teens turning their lives around, not even turning your life around.......just being ordinary