An investigation into the mental health crisis affecting young adults
today, and an impassioned argument for creating learning environments
characterized both by compassion and challenge.
Alarming statistics in recent years indicate that mental health problems
like depression and anxiety have been skyrocketing among youth. To
identify solutions, psychologist and professor Sarah Rose Cavanagh
interviews a roster of experts across the country who are dedicating
their lives to working with young people to help them actualize their
goals, and highlights voices of college students from a range of diverse
backgrounds.
Cavanagh also brings the reader on an invigorating tour of pedagogical,
neuroscientific, and psychological research on mental health--one that
involves her own personal journey from panic to equilibrium.
The result of these combined sources of inquiry indicates that to
support youth mental health, we must create what Cavanagh calls
compassionate challenge-- first, we need to cultivate learning and
living environments characterized by compassion, and then, we need to
guide our youth into practices that encourage challenge, helping them
face their fears in an encouraging, safe, and even playful way.
Mind over Monsters is a must-read for teachers, administrators,
parents, and young people themselves.
