mental health

Here's what's going on in the world for young people

• Lindsey Lohan made a commentary on her twitter account yesterday about the US Dollar saying that it will be worthless if the Fed keeps printing money. It turns out Lindsey's tweet was out of character for a reason... she was paid to tweet it - though no one seems to know who paid her to tweet - maybe Ted Nugent... She later clarified that even though she was paid to tweet that she really does care about gas and food prices.
• FM friend Cryn Johannsen posts her response to Ted Nugent on Spark Action
  

  "When it comes to their take on abortion and other social issues, Tea Party folks generally have more conservative views. That does not tend to be true for Millennials, however. For example, a recent study suggests why Millennials do not identify with the values of the Tea Party:

  Overall, they have a more progressive view on politics.

  They are also quite diverse. That diversity lends itself to more progressive politics.

  Those Millennials who are white are even more progressive than their minority counterparts.

• Economic Outlook on young people who have mental health illness. "Recent research shows that people who experience a mental health illness in early adulthood could face a range of negative economic outcomes by the age of 30."
• Protests follow Walker to the Empire State; Bloombergville connects with Walkerville. Young Americans stepping up for cheeseheads everywhere!
• This blogger runs some numbers asking if America's Young people put Ron Paul in the White House As much as I wish this were true - that American youth could have that great an impact - American youth aren't registered to vote as Republicans as much as Democrats or Independents. I don't think the sheer volume numbers are there for Rep. Paul, but his youth outreach should never go unnoticed or ignored.
• Unless you were living under a rock yesterday, you heard about the meeting of the new think tank Google is running called Google Ideas. They brought together ex-extremists from various walks of life including Muslim extremists, Mexican gang members, Northern Ireland folks, etc... and talked about the impact on extremism in the world. Many of these folks got involved in extremist behavior when they were young and a blogger implores the world to Teach young people about other religions or risk extremism.
• Here is an interesting post. There's an upcoming training session in Hanoi to teach young people how to deal with climate change. People are obviously embracing that climate change exists across the world and are beginning to prepare young people for how to manage what's coming. Maybe the time for negotiating the science is over and our generation should just start preparing for the floods.
• We need to make sure young people know the true facts of higher education. And what do those true facts entail? Well it comes out of the UK but the reality is that college is expensive no matter where you go. This writer implores us (emphasis mine)
  

  "All too often in the recent past, politicians and others have given greater priority to attacking the government, rather than advancing the interests of young people and students. Politicians of all parties, student leaders, trade unionists and all others with a public platform and who are listened to on these issues must now make sure that they know the facts and do everything to make sure young people and their parents also understand the facts and are not misled."

• 6 young illegal immigrants arrested in Georgia protest rally for DREAM Act
• Is Jon Stewart tearing young people from newspapers? First of all... what's a newspaper? Kidding. If you saw Stephen Colbert's video where he picked up our Ted Nugent hit - then you've heard the joke before about it being funny that the Washington Examiner thinks Millennials even know what the Washington Examiner is... But when the Post asked what is getting youth away from papers one Twitter respondent honestly said
  "@demisdouble: 20somethings lost 10% of their ability to read."
  What a jackass....
• After the reports of the average age of farmers and ranchers growing older and older there has been a call resound[ing] for more young people in agriculture
• Good piece to compare and contrast. College tuition in America and Abroad. This actually also references a piece about 8 ways to cut costs when going to college. But here are the shockers from this piece
  1. The tuition in Finland is covered by the State through the Ministry of Education.
  2. Norway offers free tuition as well, but the cost of living there can add up quickly.
  3. If you have a working knowledge of German, then this country is a great and affordable option. Germany has offered free tuition for quite some time and in most cases still does.

  Lucky foreigners....

• The Company you Keep - yet another article on how job prospects are harmed by facebook photos. Interestingly I got questions from my mother after sharing religious beliefs on my facebook page which she said would probably hurt me in job searches. Which may be true - like it or not. The likelihood of me working for someone that would take issue with my ability to have thoughts on religion however ... not very likely. Maybe Bill Maher should give me a job and I can enlighten him about young people....
• Lawyers say unpaid internships exploit workers - which they do. And if you are offering unpaid internships make sure you're doing so legally. Interesting - in the UK they say that charities are the worst at exploiting unpaid interns. Though that doesn't surprise me. They seem to be the same here in the US. Everyone's trying to save a buck....

• Recommendations for when college grads move back into the family home
• Top 10 cities for college grads. This was ranked by Livability.com who focuses on the places in between the big cities.
• When college doesn't go as planned go non-trad says a younger man who had to drop out of college because he couldn't afford the high tuition. Years later when he's going back he discusses what it is to be a non-trad student.
• #1 Wish of College Grads: Health Insurance. I'd also say that another wish is for... I don't know... a job?
  

  "According to a recent eHealthInsurance (EHTH) survey, only 31% of college grads have health insurance coverage through a parent's policy or their own plan paid for by their parents, despite a recent law that gives parents the option to keep kids on their policy until age 26.

  Not all parents are willing to take advantage of the law. Almost 40% of parents surveyed said they won't keep their adult children on their health insurance plans until age 26. Only 43% said they'd be willing to keep adult children under age 26 on their policies if they could do so without additional costs.

  This has led to many recent college grads rethinking their priorities. 93% of those surveyed said they'd be willing to give up dining out, movies, or a trip to Starbucks if it meant they could afford health insurance.

  74% of recent college graduates surveyed also said they'd rather live at home for the first year after college, if it's a choice between having health insurance or living on their own without it. 49%, say they'd take a job they didn't like if it offered health insurance or a retirement account."

• Surviving Home After College. Here are some tips. My personal favorite was don't lounge around the pool all day "try to find some time every day to devote to your job search." Ya think?
• Youth disabilities come from psychological disorders:
  

  "For youth, neuropsychiatric disorders including major depression and alcohol use comprise 45% of the disability burden among young people from 10 to 24 years old, according to a study published online Monday in the Lancet."

• Similarly - Mental Health top health issue for youth:

"Mental health problems are the leading cause of disability among children, teens and young adults worldwide, according to a new study.

Researchers who analyzed global data collected in 2004 found that neuropsychiatric disorders -- including depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and alcohol use -- accounted for 45 percent of the disease burden among those 10 to 24 years old.

The next two most common causes of disability among young people were accidental injuries, most often caused by traffic accidents, at 12 percent, and infectious and parasitic diseases at 10 percent."

• Young people saving for pensions too late - says this one. Perhaps its because we have student loan debt and we're afraid the Department of Education will deploy a SWAT team to come in and throw us to the ground... I don't know... I could be wrong...
• Youth attitudes toward the Ryan Medicare cuts. This one I got from Matt Singer at the Bus Project who remarked it was interesting. I think this is a reflection that the people who oppose the Ryan budget are obviously not messaging or even communicating their policies to young voters....

"Awareness is particularly low among younger Americans – fully 41% of adults under 30, and 34% of those ages 30-49, have heard nothing at all about this proposal. And politically, Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say they have heard a lot about this proposal (26% vs. 16%).

"The lack of awareness goes a long way toward explaining some of the contradictory views many Americans hold on this issue. In particular, people under age 30 are the only major demographic group in which significantly more say they favor (46%) than oppose (28%) this proposed change."

If it isn't enough that the majority of the 3,889 soldiers (as of 1am CDT 12/14/07) that are now dead from this war are under 30 - now apparently many who have survived the war are so plagued with mental illness that they are committing suicide.

Today I saw a short piece on CNN with heartbreaking parents talking about cooking Thanksgiving Dinner while unknowingly their son was bleeding to death from a self inflicted gunshot wound.

"The number of soldiers who committed suicide increased 15 percent from 2005 to 2006, according to an Army report... The numbers have not previously been released, despite repeated CNN requests for data covering the past seven months."

Reasons given by the Army in 2006

"were failed relationships, legal and financial problems and "occupational/operational" issues. The "typical profile" of a soldier who commits suicide is a member of an infantry unit who kills himself with a firearm.

So when I heard this - knowing that a majority of soldiers tend to be young I wanted to check demographic data.

70% of those who attempted suicide are under 25. Add to that the 16% who are 25-30 and you have 86% of our Millennial soldiers that are attempting suicide. Those who actually succeed 67% are 18-30.

According to Psyciatric News

"The U.S. Army announced in August that 99 soldiers committed suicide in 2006. That translates to a rate of 17.3 per 100,000. There were 948 soldiers who attempted suicide."

Another story I heard a few weeks ago on NPR was about soldiers who are being dishonorably discharged for behavioral occurrence. Often times soldiers who have PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) are discharged dishonorably for poor behavior, going AWOL, or substance abuse while on the job.

"Soldier Tyler Jennings says that when he came home from Iraq last year, he felt so depressed and desperate that he decided to kill himself. Late one night in the middle of May, his wife was out of town, and he felt more scared than he'd felt in gunfights in Iraq. Jennings says he opened the window, tied a noose around his neck and started drinking vodka, "trying to get drunk enough to either slip or just make that decision. . . . Jennings says that when the sergeants who ran his platoon found out he was having a breakdown and taking drugs, they started to haze him. He decided to attempt suicide when they said that they would eject him from the Army."

The piece goes on to say that a GAO study found that 80% of soldiers who exhibited potential signs of PTSD were not referred for mental health follow ups. And even if they do, the unit is so overwhelmed that they don't get the help they need.

It then says that a major problem is when their superiors or friends find out that they have emotional problems that they treat them like "pariahs" saying "they don't belong in the Army."

"Jennings called a supervisor at Ft. Carson to say that he had almost killed himself, so he was going to skip formation to check into a psychiatric ward. The Defense Department's clinical guidelines say that when a soldier has been planning suicide, one of the main ways to help is to put him in the hospital. Instead, officers sent a team of soldiers to his house to put him in jail, saying that Jennings was AWOL for missing work."

And when they can't intimidate them out of their emotional distress, they just fire them.

"Richard Travis, formerly the Army's senior prosecutor at Ft. Carson, is now in private practice. He says that the Army has to pay special mental-health benefits to soldiers discharged due to PTSD. But soldiers discharged for breaking the rules receive fewer or even no benefits, he says.

Alex Orum's medical records showed that he had PTSD, but his officers expelled him from the Army earlier this year for "patterns of misconduct," repeatedly citing him on disciplinary grounds. In Orum's case, he was cited for such infractions as showing up late to formation, coming to work unwashed, mishandling his personal finances and lying to supervisors — behaviors which psychiatrists say are consistent with PTSD."

It's hard to comment on this. The facts clearly speak for themselves. I spent many of my years in college being pissed that people I know were fighting a war I knew was stupid and wrong.

Thomas PM Barnett says it well in his analysis of what we did wrong in Iraq and how we could have done it better:

"I ask you, who joins the military to do things other than war? Actually, most of them. Jessica Lynch never planned on shooting back.

Now, a chunk of them are dead or they want to be. I know it isn't as many people as there were in Vietnam or in WW2 or WW1, but it doesn't diminish the fact that these are my people. My friends and yours, our sisters and brothers, and our college mates. Is this really how we want to treat them?

No wonder they are having hard time with recruitment.