Believe me when I say that this was absolutely the most unanticipated and shocking result of the COVID lockdowns imaginable. Complete twist here. You couldn't have predicted this with a crystal ball.
The pandemic took a harsh toll on U.S. teen girls' mental health, with almost 60 percent reporting feelings of persistent sadness or hopelessness, according to a government survey released Monday that bolsters earlier data.
Sexual violence, suicidal thoughts, suicidal behavior and other mental health woes affected many teens regardless of race or ethnicity, but girls and LGBTQ youth fared the worst on most measures, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report. More than 17,000 U.S. high school students were surveyed in class in the fall of 2021.
In 30 years of collecting similar data, "we've never seen this kind of devastating, consistent findings," said Kathleen Ethier, director of CDC's adolescent and school health division. "There's no question young people are telling us they are in crisis. The data really call on us to act."
Oh it hasn't been this bad in 30 years, huh? Really?
So something was different during this last survey?
Maybe it had something to do with the fact that we sent kids home indefinitely to sit in their rooms all day, "go" to "school" in useless and frustrating "remote classrooms," and spend the rest of the day on poisonous and emotionally crippling social media?
Oh wait yeah it definitely had something to do with that:
The results echo previous surveys and reports and many of the trends began before the pandemic. But isolation, online schooling and increased reliance on social media during the pandemic made things worse for many kids, mental health experts say.
And it is already obvious that schools are completely overmatched and unable to deal with this crisis:
School districts around the country have used federal pandemic money to hire more mental health specialists, if they can find them, but say they are stretched thin and that students who need expert care outside of school often can't get it because therapists are overburdened and have long waitlists.
