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by Amorymeltzer 619 days ago
The If Books Could Kill podcast did a good episode about this topic and Haidt's book in particular: <https://www.buzzsprout.com/2040953/episodes/15546366-the-anx...>
2 comments

What they said on "If Books Could Kill" is an extremely thorough trouncing of Haidt's narrative and the methodologies of the researches he utilized in that book.

The summary is this:

The uptick is adequately explained by changes to mandatory reporting requirements for screening questions of mental health for teenagers from Obamacare and increased access to healthcare for those teenagers.

So mental illness rose steeply in girls and not so much in boys since 2012, and more in liberals than conservatives, since 2012 and this is adequately explained by increased reporting requirements?
I'd also ask a similar question about the stark increase in suicide rates, not just mental health.
There is no stark increase. It only looks like an increase because the charts Haidt uses are cropped at a low point. Look at longer term data:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/187478/death-rate-from-s...

The number of suicides now is little different for men to 1990, and is significantly lower than it was in the 1970s.

IMO, there was entirely too much snark in there. It felt like the goal they set out on was to dunk on Haidt, rather to act as impartially as possible.