We all know that mental health problems and addictions are treated differently than other health conditions.

So you’re stuck drinking and smoking weed? Because you’re afraid your anxiety will get worse if you stop?

They have very little experience making independent decisions (and mistakes). And this is how they grow into adults with anxiety, into adults who lack confidence in their ability to manage life without someone to tell them what to do.

It may be a side effect of raising public awareness about mental health conditions like depression and anxiety. We have brought mental illness to the front of people’s minds. And we have inadvertently created a side effect of pathologizing some aspects of normal experience.