re: Why has mental health declined so much over the years?

1. "Mental health" has become a catch-all term for everything from a complete psychotic break to just being bummed on a rainy day.

2. Older generations were brought up with more of the attitude of either burying it or letting it go. What a lot of modern psychology is about today is constantly re-living and re-hashing events in an effort to move beyond them.

3. Social media on two fronts:
A. Attention whoring - there are multitudes of accounts where people look like they are living these glamorous lives with nothing but constant adulation. Young and impressionable kids take them seriously enough to mimic them, but then get confused/aggravated that their lives aren't that way.
B. Normalizes and supports obnoxious behavior as normal, this contradicts much of the real world where obnoxious behavior is more likely to create negative reactions.

4. Lack of working in a coal mine. We laughed about this thread, but there is a nugget of truth in that too much idle time can lead to more problems than it can fix.

5. Too many medical professionals are too quick to prescribe medication to address behavior issues before prescribing a belt, taking away phones/computers, giving kids chores, etc. These kids then grow up continuing these behaviors.

6. Over-abuse of drugs (weed, opioids, etc).