When Arthur C. Brooks returned to academia in 2019 after 11 years away, he expected college students to be the generally happy demographic he remembered them as.
Instead, he discovered some troubling statistics. Depression rates had tripled among people under 30, he said, and anxiety had doubled. Loneliness and addiction rates were up as well; and 55% of students at Harvard University, where Brooks teaches, were seeking psychiatric care.
So he set out to discover the root of the problem. His conclusion? “It turns out that the best predictor of depression and anxiety for people under 30 is to say that ‘My life feels meaningless,’” Brooks said, adding, “That’s what led to the mental health crisis among young adults that we see today. We have a meaning crisis.”