Why the Older Generation is Still Disconnected from the Youth’s Mental Health Concerns

Every year, mental health and wellness grow in prominence, at least as far as certain segments of the population are concerned. There is an undeniable generational divide between people who focus on mental health concerns as an important component of work-life balance and those who haven’t quite managed to prioritize wellness in a balanced routine—typically, though not exclusively, a trait seen in generations older than millennials. This growing gap is especially visible when it comes to understanding Youth’s Mental Health, as younger generations are more open about discussing their struggles, seeking help, and promoting emotional well-being as part of a healthy lifestyle.

Why is it that younger people place a higher importance on mental health?

The Evolution of Mental Health as a Social Concept

It’s important to understand that our modern notions of mental health and self-care are very new. Up until the middle of the twentieth century, mental health was a very taboo topic, confined to two basic categories: people who are well and people who are not. People who are well do not wish to talk about mental health concerns. 

People who are not well received highly intrusive and often ultimately harmful treatments away from the eyes of polite society. To have asked someone in the nineteen sixties about their mental health would have been, at the very least, to make a very unflattering insinuation.

Slowly, and through the thought leadership of Freud and Jung, among many others, psychological considerations became more ingrained in the public lexicon throughout the twentieth century, exploding in the nineteen eighties and nineties with the suddenly enhanced popularity of regular therapy sessions. 

As quote-unquote normal people began to seek help with their mental health, it became something that the general public could talk about.

Modern Mental Health in America: A Leap Too Far

Doing some quick math, a person in their seventies will have approximately three decades of experience with the idea that going to therapy is neither shameful nor indicative of a debilitating problem.

That said, they’re not going to be as strongly aware of social-emotional concepts that are a common part of modern life. 

Even older millennials are watching their kids grow up in a different world than they had known. A thirty-five-year-old father might, at the dinner table each night, be surprised by mental health considerations in a second-grade daughter’s classroom, such as emotional check-ins, regular meetings with school social workers, or occasional classroom visits by the district psychologist.

Older generations have shown increasing levels of acceptance toward the idea of prioritizing one’s mental health. However, they’re not always as good at applying those concepts to their own life.

Why This Matters

Why is it a problem that older generations struggle to accept emerging ideas about mental health care? The biggest problem is that it’s negatively impacting them. As people reach their seventies and eighties, they begin to experience new and often challenging life milestones.

First of all, it’s around this age when most people stop working, which is not always the positive adjustment that it is assumed to be. All of a sudden, someone who never had to think about what they would do with forty-five hours of their week is left with an enormous amount of free time they don’t know how to fill. Often, anxiety, depression, and emotional fatigue assume the space that work once filled.

It’s also around this age that people begin to lose friends and family members and grapple with their own mortality. The older a person gets, of course, the more prominent these concerns become.

Bridging the Gap

An enhanced focus on mental health can benefit the aging segment of our population. The question then becomes, what do we do about it? Many older Americans are already being exposed to mental health initiatives through employment and simply by way of their wider social circle. They may have a daughter, a grandchild, or a son-in-law who has taken a proactive interest in helping them manage mental health considerations. Exposure is an excellent first step.

But is it enough? Probably not. For sustainable change, the aging individual themselves will need to take a proactive interest in care. If you are concerned with and about the mental health of an older relative, consider introducing mental health practices in the form of enjoyable recreational activities. 

Not every mental wellness lifestyle adjustment involves parking yourself in front of a psychiatrist for two hours a week. While that may be an eventual step for some people, many others address their mental health needs through more discrete methods: mindfulness activities, physical exercise, yoga, meditation. 

Many senior citizen communities are already emphasizing the importance of these types of opportunities.

You, as the friend or family member of someone who could benefit from them, might help the matter along simply by taking a more active interest in their social-emotional health. Consider inviting them to yoga night or encouraging them to participate in ways that make sense. Often, the best way to navigate reservations concerning mental health practices is to show the person just how enjoyable taking care of yourself can be.

You don’t need to encourage someone who has never before actively engaged with their mental health to divulge childhood trauma to a psychiatrist. Indeed, doing so will probably push them outside of their comfort zone in a way that is ultimately harmful to the long-term trajectory of their mental health. 

Focus instead on stacking layups through repeated exposure and particularly in view of positive outcomes. Your friend or family member is more likely to develop an active interest in nurturing their mental health.

Conclusion

All of this said, the overall outlook for mental health in America is generally positive. Progress is not necessarily linear, but it has moved, at least primarily, in a forward direction. Older generations, reluctant to take modern notions of mental health care more seriously, aren’t really hurting anyone except themselves.

Every day, the number of people reluctant to prioritize mental health and wellness declines. That includes those continuing to resist the impact of mental health considerations in their own lives.

Deserved patience and gentle encouragement: while you can’t force someone to take their own mental health more seriously, we as a society can help reluctant segments of the population along by continuing to create a kind, supportive, and open-minded culture surrounding mental health care.