Adolescent internalizing symptoms (e.g. depressive affect) have increased over the past decade in the US, particularly among girls. The reasons for these increases are unclear. We hypothesize that increasing exposure to politicized events has contributed ...
I grew up very conservative with a very conservative father. I was severely depressed. My father straight up used to say that mental health issues were not real and believed therapy was bad thing. He once yelled at an allergist that prescribed me Zyrtec because he got it confused with Zoloft. 16 year old me would have killed myself before admitting to him or anyone else that I was thinking about suicide.
I’m much better now, on the whole, but sometimes I do wonder how I managed to get through my teen years alive. I think I honestly was just stubborn. My father takes a much more relaxed view of mental health now, and had even offered to go to therapy with my mother before he filed for divorce (she was worse than him and refused to see a therapist even to save their marriage). But yeah, teens in conservative households are going to toe the line for what they are taught. Even if they know there’s something wrong they aren’t going to ask for help for their parents if they feel their parents reaction will be negative. This was my lived experience anyway.
Happy to report I’m a raging liberal now and my father and I don’t discuss politics in order to maintain our familial relationship. Occasionally I’ll trick him into agreeing with a principal that conservatives say they support and then bring up some legislation from the GOP that directly contradicts that principal. I don’t press it though and he doesn’t seem to absorb it much, but that’s just how it is for people convinced the GOP are the good guys.
I grew up very conservative with a very conservative father. I was severely depressed. My father straight up used to say that mental health issues were not real and believed therapy was bad thing. He once yelled at an allergist that prescribed me Zyrtec because he got it confused with Zoloft. 16 year old me would have killed myself before admitting to him or anyone else that I was thinking about suicide.
I’m much better now, on the whole, but sometimes I do wonder how I managed to get through my teen years alive. I think I honestly was just stubborn. My father takes a much more relaxed view of mental health now, and had even offered to go to therapy with my mother before he filed for divorce (she was worse than him and refused to see a therapist even to save their marriage). But yeah, teens in conservative households are going to toe the line for what they are taught. Even if they know there’s something wrong they aren’t going to ask for help for their parents if they feel their parents reaction will be negative. This was my lived experience anyway.
Happy to report I’m a raging liberal now and my father and I don’t discuss politics in order to maintain our familial relationship. Occasionally I’ll trick him into agreeing with a principal that conservatives say they support and then bring up some legislation from the GOP that directly contradicts that principal. I don’t press it though and he doesn’t seem to absorb it much, but that’s just how it is for people convinced the GOP are the good guys.
I am glad you made it and are doing well.