Meg Jay

Well, times have changed.

By the early 2000s, about 10% of young adults were on antidepressants.

Today, it's about 20%.

or about one in five of my clients will come in and say that they're already on medication.

Social media has definitely played a role.

It's increased social awareness around mental health, which can be a good thing, but it's also led to some social contagion.

Many young adults see videos about depression and anxiety and the medications that people are taking, and then they decide they have these problems and they want to try these medications too.

You have those moments where you just find yourself smiling and you're like, wait, is this what antidepressants do?

So in a recent study of university presidents, about 85% said that social media was a leading cause of mental health problems in their students.

When you ask the students themselves, only about 33% said it was a leading cause, that they were more likely to say it was stressors around school and work and family and finances and friends, and that that is what was making them feel stressed.

stressed and anxious, not social media per se.

I'm just really introverted and it's harder for me to get out there and put myself out there.

That said, I do think that young adults go on social media and they learn a lot about mental health, but also a lot about medications.

that then they decide they want to try.

Are antidepressants actually helping young people?

Well, it's an interesting question because, of course, they help some people.

I think the research can be misleading.

If you look at the total of research on antidepressants, they're only effective about 50% of the time.

I don't think that's something that young people understand, that when they decide to take antidepressants, you know, there's about a 50-50 chance that this will have a benefit for them.

And they also don't understand what the risks are.