Oh, psychotropic drugs are the go-to by the medical community and society at large. The message seems to be 'take this and calm down.' Of course, it just leads to more problems. Also, birth control pills cause the body to enter menopause early. Girls are assaulted from so many angles. Pornography should be illegal, it is highly toxic to the brain and relationships, studies show this. The pressure to be perfectly thin, to look like a model, to get an influential career which may mean never fulfilling the natural desire for most women (not all) for child rearing, aggressive sexual attention, the jealousy of other women if you become sexually attractive and the cruelty that ensues, broken homes, mothers too busy to guide etc....why wouldn't girls be breaking down? The whole women's lib movement has created a whole other set of prison bars. Promiscuity damages the emotional body and is expected. Oh, the list goes on, it is a catastrophe, what are we prepared to do about it though. Boys have another set of pressures of course, but this article was on girls.
Early in my marriage, in about 2007, went to my doctor (Dartmouth grad) for a check up and follow up following the still birth of a baby. I was very sad (duh). My dr. was alarmed at my tears and tried to prescribe me anti depressants. When I told her I thought it was normal to be sad in my situation, she said, well, sometimes if you let yourself stay sad too long you will be sad forever so the antidepressants can help you!! What BS.
I have a teenage daughter now who has been homeschooled and done a lot of sports. I’m afraid for her and hope she can find happiness and a husband someday who has nit been abused by online porn, but so far she is incredibly Normal and happy. I think something has gone so wrong with parents and schools who are letting the internet abuse their kids
I’m so sorry about the loss of your baby. Yes it’s normal to be sad and crying about that loss. We’re not robots without feelings. What a damaging statement she made.
I had a similar experience with my doctor, I shed a few tears in her office because I had recently been divorced and it was a horrible divorce. Her response?
I need to take an antidepressant … so was I not supposed to shed any tear about my loss? These people are crazy!
Just to clarify in the last paragraph - do you mean to say: “They are then placed on mood and mind altering psychiatric drugs to correct a brain chemical imbalance that doesn’t exist and that carry black box warnings for suicide.”
Thank you for writing this article. It’s a travesty, and it’s happening to boys, too.
I’m so glad we waited to allow our daughter to have social media. She’s in high school now and we have a agreed to just one social media for this school year and we’ll reevaluate next year. The comparison & bullying on social media can be devastating for girls.
Thank you so much for this!!! I’m the mother of a 9yo girl and a horse riding instructor of many girls. I’ve seen what the world is doing to them and I lived it myself in my time. It’s very sand and must be addressed.
Why are you sharing on social media between sessions? Was that a joke?
You seem to be missing the big picture. It's not just the drug companies.
Our entire medical system pathologizes emotions. We believe they are not healthy.
They are apart of our intelligence. They are the deliverers of our big picture intelligence.
You have psychopathy if you don't have emotions. Can't we all see we live in a society that holds up psychopathy as the ideal? We live in a society that protects evil and destroys empathy. Evil gets a trial in adulthood. Empathy gets slaughtered in childhood.
You are lost in the weeds. You are contributing to the problem by charging for something that should be free. Attention and love. A kind ear and respect.
We are a society in collapse. There is a buffet of dysfunction to choose from. It's hardly just the girls facing it.
Get your kids out out of the system before it gets worse. That is what I did. My daughters are not struggling and we are as sensitive as people come.
Wow. It's terrifying how fast this substack goes from the real world of girls violently abused by men into moralistic speculations about images in the virtual world. If we'd just pay attention, girls have told us (via the CDC's 2021 survey) what the biggest contributors by far (many times more important than social media) are to their depression and suicidality: violent and emotional abuses by parents and household adults (parents' partners). We didn't like that answer, so we ignored it. Girls are tough. Girls have by far the lowest suicide and drug/alcohol overdose rates of any gender or age, far, far lower than their middle-aged parents (especially men). They can handle some bad online images and messages as part of life. What they can't handle is being violently, sexually, and emotionally abused in real life -- no one could. That grownups today ignore real abuses inflicted on girls in order to misrepresent them somehow as victims of their own social media choices is grotesque. Let me leave you with a horrific statistic, again from real life: From 2010 to 2021, as girls' depression rates rose, girls were subjected to 13 million grownups ages 30-59 (their parents, relatives, parents' partners, teachers, coaches, etc.) who died from or were treated in hospital ER for soaring drug/alchol overdoses and self-harm -- 13 million! (see CDC ER and vital statistics reports). And we wonder why girls are justifiably more depressed?
Very fascinating and good read Dr. Roger. I've recently learned is that men and women often have different symptoms when it comes to depression, with males often becoming more irritable, angry, and aggressive when they are depressed, while women show the more inward symptoms such as sadness, helplessness, and hopelessness.
Oh, psychotropic drugs are the go-to by the medical community and society at large. The message seems to be 'take this and calm down.' Of course, it just leads to more problems. Also, birth control pills cause the body to enter menopause early. Girls are assaulted from so many angles. Pornography should be illegal, it is highly toxic to the brain and relationships, studies show this. The pressure to be perfectly thin, to look like a model, to get an influential career which may mean never fulfilling the natural desire for most women (not all) for child rearing, aggressive sexual attention, the jealousy of other women if you become sexually attractive and the cruelty that ensues, broken homes, mothers too busy to guide etc....why wouldn't girls be breaking down? The whole women's lib movement has created a whole other set of prison bars. Promiscuity damages the emotional body and is expected. Oh, the list goes on, it is a catastrophe, what are we prepared to do about it though. Boys have another set of pressures of course, but this article was on girls.
"The whole women's lib movement has created a whole other set of prison bars." YES!!!!!
Early in my marriage, in about 2007, went to my doctor (Dartmouth grad) for a check up and follow up following the still birth of a baby. I was very sad (duh). My dr. was alarmed at my tears and tried to prescribe me anti depressants. When I told her I thought it was normal to be sad in my situation, she said, well, sometimes if you let yourself stay sad too long you will be sad forever so the antidepressants can help you!! What BS.
I have a teenage daughter now who has been homeschooled and done a lot of sports. I’m afraid for her and hope she can find happiness and a husband someday who has nit been abused by online porn, but so far she is incredibly Normal and happy. I think something has gone so wrong with parents and schools who are letting the internet abuse their kids
I’m so sorry about the loss of your baby. Yes it’s normal to be sad and crying about that loss. We’re not robots without feelings. What a damaging statement she made.
I had a similar experience with my doctor, I shed a few tears in her office because I had recently been divorced and it was a horrible divorce. Her response?
I need to take an antidepressant … so was I not supposed to shed any tear about my loss? These people are crazy!
Good lord as the father of a 9-year old girl this is terrifying. Convents in remote areas with no cell reception are still a thing, right?
Just to clarify in the last paragraph - do you mean to say: “They are then placed on mood and mind altering psychiatric drugs to correct a brain chemical imbalance that doesn’t exist and that carry black box warnings for suicide.”
Thank you for writing this article. It’s a travesty, and it’s happening to boys, too.
Sorry Typo!!
Its updated now
This is why I’m so glad my 14 year old barely uses her phone. She plays outside with friends instead. It’s like I’m raising her in 1982.
I’m so glad we waited to allow our daughter to have social media. She’s in high school now and we have a agreed to just one social media for this school year and we’ll reevaluate next year. The comparison & bullying on social media can be devastating for girls.
It seems every passing mood now has a permanent diagnosis. It’s horrifying.
Thank you so much for this!!! I’m the mother of a 9yo girl and a horse riding instructor of many girls. I’ve seen what the world is doing to them and I lived it myself in my time. It’s very sand and must be addressed.
Why are you sharing on social media between sessions? Was that a joke?
You seem to be missing the big picture. It's not just the drug companies.
Our entire medical system pathologizes emotions. We believe they are not healthy.
They are apart of our intelligence. They are the deliverers of our big picture intelligence.
You have psychopathy if you don't have emotions. Can't we all see we live in a society that holds up psychopathy as the ideal? We live in a society that protects evil and destroys empathy. Evil gets a trial in adulthood. Empathy gets slaughtered in childhood.
You are lost in the weeds. You are contributing to the problem by charging for something that should be free. Attention and love. A kind ear and respect.
We are a society in collapse. There is a buffet of dysfunction to choose from. It's hardly just the girls facing it.
Get your kids out out of the system before it gets worse. That is what I did. My daughters are not struggling and we are as sensitive as people come.
Wow. It's terrifying how fast this substack goes from the real world of girls violently abused by men into moralistic speculations about images in the virtual world. If we'd just pay attention, girls have told us (via the CDC's 2021 survey) what the biggest contributors by far (many times more important than social media) are to their depression and suicidality: violent and emotional abuses by parents and household adults (parents' partners). We didn't like that answer, so we ignored it. Girls are tough. Girls have by far the lowest suicide and drug/alcohol overdose rates of any gender or age, far, far lower than their middle-aged parents (especially men). They can handle some bad online images and messages as part of life. What they can't handle is being violently, sexually, and emotionally abused in real life -- no one could. That grownups today ignore real abuses inflicted on girls in order to misrepresent them somehow as victims of their own social media choices is grotesque. Let me leave you with a horrific statistic, again from real life: From 2010 to 2021, as girls' depression rates rose, girls were subjected to 13 million grownups ages 30-59 (their parents, relatives, parents' partners, teachers, coaches, etc.) who died from or were treated in hospital ER for soaring drug/alchol overdoses and self-harm -- 13 million! (see CDC ER and vital statistics reports). And we wonder why girls are justifiably more depressed?
RESIST!!!! 👏👏👏👏 STANDING FCKIN OVATION TO YOU!
Very fascinating and good read Dr. Roger. I've recently learned is that men and women often have different symptoms when it comes to depression, with males often becoming more irritable, angry, and aggressive when they are depressed, while women show the more inward symptoms such as sadness, helplessness, and hopelessness.