Sanders calls for a 'political revolution' to solve America’s 'mental health crisis'

13 June 2023

United States Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) published a blistering opinion column in Tuesday's edition ofThe Guardian criticizing the lack of legislative action to remedy the accelerating mental health epidemic that is disproportionately afflicting younger generations of Americans.

"In America today, 40% of parents report being either extremely or very worried that their child is struggling with anxiety or depression. And they are right to be worried," Sanders began.

"According to a recent survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention," Sanders pointed out, "nearly one out of every three teenagers in America reported that the state of their mental health was poor. Two out of every five teenagers felt persistently sad or hopeless. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, suicide is the second-leading cause of death among people age 15 to 24 in the United States. Nearly 20% of high school students report serious thoughts of suicide and 9% have made an attempt to take their lives."

"As chairman of the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, I have spoken with national experts and recently held a hearing on this subject that featured Dr. Vivek Murthy, the US surgeon general, who has written extensively on this subject," Sanders continued. "What I have learned is that our young people today face challenges that no generation in modern history has ever been forced to deal with. The pandemic, the worst public health crisis in over 100 years, created fears in children about whether they or their loved ones would get sick or die. That’s an anxiety not easily dealt with by young, developing minds. And let us not forget: over 200,000 children did lose one or both of their parents to Covid and millions more saw relatives and acquaintances become sick or hospitalized. That grief and fear remains long after any national emergency is declared over."

Sanders pointed out that rampant economic challenges such as student loan debt and income inequality are primary drivers of the growing misery. Sanders also lamented that "the mental health damage" stemming from addiction to social media apps like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter "is much less important" to technology moguls "than the huge profits they are reaping."

Sanders further identified two additional key components of the crisis — climate change and gun violence — and excoriated the apparent lack of solutions from local and national leaders.

"In my view, if we are truly going to resolve the mental health crisis that we face, we will need a political revolution that creates a society based on justice, compassion, human solidarity and a growing sense of community. We can no longer abide the grotesque level of corporate greed that pervades every aspect of our economy. We must move to a society in which people are treated as human beings, not commodities," Sanders wrote. "If we truly care about our kids and grandchildren, if we care about the very future of our planet, we must stand up and fight back."

Sanders' editorial continues here.

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