Summary
Overview
This episode of The Rest Is Politics explores the mental health crisis among Generation Z, examining whether young people are genuinely struggling or simply less resilient. The podcast features three experts who provide different perspectives on why one in five young people in the UK currently suffers from mental health problems, exploring topics like social media's impact, self-diagnosis culture, workplace nihilism, and the commodification of young women's lives online.
The Rise of Mental Health Diagnoses and Psychiatric Language
Dr. Lucy Foulkes, an Oxford psychologist specializing in adolescent mental health, explains the explosion in mental health diagnoses among young people over the past 20 years. She describes how psychiatric terminology has become normalized in everyday conversation, with terms like OCD, PTSD, and depression now used casually in ways that weren't common in the 1990s. This cultural transformation has led to both greater awareness and potential problems, as young people now police each other's use of mental health language and face backlash for self-diagnosis.
- More young people are reporting symptoms, seeking help, and getting diagnosed than ever before, representing a total cultural transformation
- Psychiatric terminology that was reserved for very unwell people in the 90s is now used casually, with parallel uses for serious diagnoses and casual conversation
- Young people have developed unspoken rules about legitimate self-diagnosis, treating peers with suspicion if they seem to claim diagnoses too readily
- Public attitudes toward mental health improved from 2009-2020 but have started decreasing again, suggesting saturation and backlash
" Generally, if people are unhappy, they're more likely to talk about being depressed if they use terms like OCD and PTSD very casually. And actually, it seems like these psychiatric disorders now have a kind of parallel use. "
" In the past, we might have just not been compatible with someone. But now we tend to say that they're avoidant or that they're a narcissist. "
" The backlash has started before we've actually improved the problem. So it's like we've had this awareness or the willingness to talk about it. And then the backlash has started before we've actually improved the problem. "
Nihilism and the Rejection Economy Facing Young Workers
Researcher Shuaib Gamote, who traveled the UK speaking to over 400 young people, reveals widespread nihilism among 16-year-olds about their future prospects. Young people believe they'll never own homes and won't achieve the same prosperity as their parents due to the cost of living crisis and structural economic challenges. This nihilism manifests in what Gamote calls 'quitting culture,' where young people rapidly leave jobs not out of lack of resilience, but because they see no future in roles offering zero-hours contracts with no career progression.
- 16 and 17-year-olds in education already believe they'll never own a home in their lifetime due to signals from headlines, politics, and economics classes
- Gen Z may be one of the most resilient generations ever, having faced multiple crises over a short period despite being labeled snowflakes
- Gen Z can be divided into three subcategories (1.0, 1.5, 2.0) based on their relationship with technology, from organic social media to algorithmic AI-driven platforms
- Young people are quitting jobs frequently not due to lack of commitment but because of poor conditions, lack of progression, and inadequate pay in zero-hours roles
" All of them were in sixth form in college and quite naturally school is usually quite an optimistic environment where teachers are trying to tell the young people that they're working with that they their future is going to be bright they can go to university they can live good lives however when we ask them about stuff like housing when we ask them what they're really kind of depressed about at the moment what's making them feel like this country's going in the wrong direction they would list things like cost of living crisis a lot of young people believe they'll never own a home in their lifetime at the age of 16 "
" In my opinion, this is one of the most resilient generations that's ever been. They face so many different crises over a short period of time. "
" For me, Facebook was just on my desktop computer at home. And for Gen Z 1.0, there was no such thing as endless scrolling. You couldn't just scroll all night. Yeah. I mean, it would be if you've got 50 friends, you're done within 10 minutes. "
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