Baby Boomers and Not Validating Mental Health Issues
It’s not just your parents… it’s an entire generation
A boomer that I know and love recently actually said that mental health issues like eating disorders, anxiety disorders, depression, etc didn’t exist before the 80’s. As if trying to completely invalidate the existence of these things now. As if they’re just something that GenX and Millennial’s have just made up out of thin air as something to complain about. This boomer also said myriad shocking things about other sensitive issues, but who can blame them? They come by it honestly and I genuinely think this person meant absolutely no harm. Sure, it causes harm to talk like this, but you get to choose who you’re vulnerable with. You get to choose what kind of conversations you stick around for and if they’re worth having or not. The power is up to you.
I’ve tried and tried to understand certain boomers that I know. Why are they the way that they are? Did someone do some serious psychological damage to them for them to be in complete denial about many of their obvious emotional/mental/physical problems? Their anxiety? Their addictions? Their terrible coping strategies for life?
It turns out the answer isn’t so complicated. Boomers simply grew up in an age where mental health issues were a complete taboo subject. Unless you were on some very extreme end…
