OPINION: Mental health crisis has a bit of an identity

“Recent data shows that the United States is in mental health crisis, experienced by people of all ages—but especially among young people. This trend was observed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, but has been worsened by pandemic-related factors. In addition, drug overdose and suicide remain leading causes of deaths in the U.S. These deaths, often associated with mental distress, continue to impact families and communities socially, emotionally and economically long after they occur.” (United State Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Unless you are living in the bowels of China or Iran, you know that America is in a debilitating mental health crisis, and it is only getting worse. Unfortunately, a recent study begins to shed some light on the problem of youth mental illness, and the study is worth discussing. However, ICE raids, daycare fraud and a host of other high-profile events (which I will talk more about in the coming weeks) dominate the headlines, and the media has barely covered this. However, it is very important – perhaps of paramount importance – that this study is talked about and analyzed.

Today I discuss a survey published at https://cosm.aei.org/why-so-blue-liberal-women-are-less-happy-more-lonely-but-why/.

In that article, Brad Wilcox and Grant Bailey state: “Young liberal women are especially prone nowadays to reporting poor mental health. This was the discovery that Zach Goldberg made almost five years ago pouring over Pew data in the spring of 2020. Further research in 2022 found that depression had surged among liberal high school girls in the last decade and a half, and much more so for them than other high schoolers, especially conservatives.”

New evidence from 2024 American Family Survey finds that “young liberal women are markedly less satisfied with life than their conservative peers. Specifically, we found that 37% of conservative women reported being “completely satisfied” with life, whereas only 12% of liberal women did. Young conservative women are three times as likely to report being very satisfied with life compared to young liberal women. Moreover, liberal women are two to three times more likely to report they are “not satisfied” with their lives, compared to conservative women. And consistent with previous research, the effect of ideology on young women’s happiness held up to controls for age, education, race and income.

Further, research from 2022 indicates that depression rates in liberal high school girls during the previous decade and a half vastly outpaced the rates for conservative high schoolers.

“When we control for education, race, age and income, the 2024 American Family Survey data also indicate that liberal women ages 18 to 40 are over three times as likely to report frequent feelings of loneliness compared to their conservative peers.” The article points out that conservative women tend to be married, use social media less and attend church more.

But I think there is much more. The feminist/progressive social doctrine, which accepts and espouses that we were not created right, has inherent flaws and our value is in our chosen identity. This combines with our pill-popping medical industry where we medicate our problems rather than deal with them. If we have confusion about our identity, and who doesn’t when they are 13 years old, let’s just transition to someone use. We confuse God-designed roles of man and woman and tell young women they are only going to be happy when they adopt extreme feminism, which leaves them alone and bitter by age 40.

What this liberal theology always teaches is that our problems are always someone else’s fault and that we can fix anything by changing our identity. Instead of working through life, we put young people on meds and “empower” them to make life-altering decisions, such as transgenderism. Parents who resist are prosecuted in many states and persecuted everywhere.

The promise of liberalism or progressivism is not a new great way of life or new America but utter disappointment. The things that they say make us happy are the cause of mental disorders because we can only truly get the most out of life by learning to be content with what we have and who we are. Progressive theology can only work if we get joy in destroying others rather than raising ourselves to greatness. No wonder those who seek their agenda are suffering. We are never good enough.

I have for many years thought liberalism was a mental illness. Sadly, I guess I am right.