Are the Kids All Right? How Series Can Better Represent Teen Mental Health on Screen
19.05.2022 - 18:25
/ variety.com
Malina Saval Associate Editor, FeaturesThe subject of teenage depression is generally played for high-octane drama in showbiz. In 2017, “13 Reasons Why” fell under rapid-fire controversy for its inclusion of a graphic suicide scene, which was ultimately removed by Netflix. Conversely, in Hulu’s true crime miniseries “The Girl From Plainville,” the pinnacle suicide scene is kept off-camera.
And then there’s “Euphoria,” HBO’s Emmy-winning, millennial-targeted juggernaut charting the disease of addiction in Rue (Zendaya), whose rampant substance abuse-cum-debilitating anxiety is punctuated by police chases, drug lords and toxic teenage love triangles. But depression isn’t always — or even most of the time — the stuff of season-ending cliffhangers. It’s dull, weighty.
It is as heavy as a rock chained to one’s ankle. In the United States, rates of adolescent depression have climbed to epidemic proportions. Per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 13% of adolescents reported having a major depressive episode in 2019, a 60% jump from 2007.
In 2018, suicide rates for people ages 10-24 also leapt 60%. Suicide is a leading cause of death among youth ages 10 to 19 years. Given this catastrophic trend and in May, dubbed Mental Health Awareness month, Hollywood should consider normalizing its depiction of mental illness, centering (at least some) stories on the millions of adolescents who cope with clinical depression.
“Our recent research on film and our prior work on television suggests that very few teens are depicted with a mental health condition at all in popular media,” says Stacy L. Smith, founder of the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative at USC. “Even though there may be a few examples of shows that present mental
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