“So, dealing with universal life situations is now considered a ‘psychiatric disorder’?”
For a couple decades now, many kids have been shielded from dealing with universal life situations. Bullying? Let Mom sue the school. Death? He or she is too tender to go to a funeral. Failure? To be avoided at all times. Winning? Everyone wins. Excellence? White privilege. Bumps and bruises? Not in today’s risk-adverse playgrounds. Discomfort? Get to the doctor at the first whine. Disagreements? Safe places. Faith? Too old-fashioned. Challenges? Unfair rules from powers-that-be. Two functional parents? Sexist.
When these kids are cut loose at college, without support systems and without having developed coping mechanisms for life’s unpleasantries, then they will experience severe stress and anxiety. They have been emotionally cocooned all their lives and now have to pay the price or resort to substance abuse, hiding back home, suicide, whatever.
Great post. One infuriating event in my life was my brother’s refusal to allow his son as a teenager to come to the wake of our parents. I was taken to Irish wakes at six years of age! It turned out later, my brother didn’t like going to wakes or funerals and so had to shield his little crumb cruncher.
Everything you said in your post is absolutely true.