How mindfulness and therapy can make our children more depressed and anxious

At a time when mental health is being talked about more than ever, there is a camp of experts who worry that we may have gone too far.

Schools across the country are conducting mental health awareness campaigns and encouraging mindfulness and meditation techniques in classrooms.

But there is evidence that greater awareness and focus on mental health has the opposite effect, not helping children at all, but worsening anxiety and depression.

My resilience in adolescence, or MYRIADOne trial followed thousands of students who practiced mindfulness exercises in schools. The results showed that not only did the exercises not improve teens’ mental health, but those at higher risk of mental health problems were worse off after the training.

Researchers attributed the results to multiple reasons, but said one explanation was that mindfulness “brought awareness to troubling thoughts.”

The CDC found that one in 10 U.S. high school students attempted suicide in 2021, up from 8.9 percent the year before. Women were hit hardest: 13.3 percent attempted suicide that year

However, the study found that mindfulness exercises had a positive effect on teachers at school.

Researchers pointed out that there are many things that can affect a developing young person’s mental health, including their environment, socio-economic status, family dynamics and parenting, genetics and schooling, such as homework, exams and social aspects .

In a similar Australian studyResearchers found that students who completed a cognitive behavioral therapy course reported higher levels of depression and anxiety symptoms six and 12 months later.

In both studies, researchers engaged in so-called co-rumination, in which someone repeatedly discusses problems with others instead of looking for solutions.

This excessive dwelling on problems appeared to be more common in women.

Dr. Jack Andrews, who led the Australian study and is a fellow at the Wellcome Trust – a British health research organization – told The New York Times: ‘They may come together and make things a little worse for each other.’

He added that he believes schools should approach mental health curriculum with caution until “we know the evidence base a little better.” Doing nothing is better than doing something.’

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, 13.8 percent of children and adolescents between the ages of five and 17 received counseling or therapy in 2022.

Colorado-based psychologist Dr. Shawn Smith previously said DailyMail.com’s therapy could be harming America’s youth by “encouraging children to, quite frankly, spend too much time staring at their own belly buttons, and not be involved to engage with the world and develop meaningful relationships and activities. .

‘To some extent, therapy contributes to this. It’s a problem.’

Dr. Smith added, “The way we know people are depressed is that they turn inward… and usually what you see is a relentless examination of yourself, of your thoughts, of your feelings and of your presentation.”

Overtherapy can contribute to this: ‘If we have children who scrutinize themselves pointlessly, we cause them to turn inward and collapse inside, become self-absorbed and depressed. ‘

Despite the hesitation of some, Dr. Jessica Schleider, an associate professor of medical social sciences at Northwestern University, argued that addressing mental health issues in young people should be a priority for public health agendas.

She told the Times: ‘The urgency of the mental health crisis is so clear.

‘In the partnerships I have, the emphasis is on the children who are really struggling now and who have nothing – we have to help them – more than on a possible risk for some of the children who are not really struggling.’

She warned against interpreting the study results as a reason to “forget everything.” Instead, she said experts should ask, “What about this intervention was useless?”

Dr. Schleider said experts need to move from the “one-size-fits-all, school meeting-style approach” to more individualized and targeted interventions, which research has shown can be effective in helping improve mental health.