Data collected from responses to a popular personality test called the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, or MMPI for short, and analyzed by researchers at five different universities shows that there are up to five times the as many teenagers suffering from anxiety and depression as there were at the beginning of the 20th century. The exact cause of the sharp increase in mental disorders identified among our young people is still unknown. To contain the increase in numbers we must identify the underlying issues that result in these troubling mindsets. Today, there is less of a social stigma to announce and then seek treatment for a mental disorder. Advances over the past century resulting from in-depth study of mental disorders have included the identification and naming of more specific mental illnesses. Long gone are the days when crazy people were all classified as psychotic, schizophrenic or in some sort of post-traumatic condition and therefore confined to solitary confinement, considered a lost case to be removed from society. I believe our culture has created a more welcoming environment than the prejudices of the 1950s and 1960s against people with mental illnesses, because some of the mystery, and therefore some of the fear, has been removed. The facts state that more and more young people experience anxiety and express problems related to depression. The world of today is not the world of yesterday, for better and, above all, for worse. Teenage pregnancies are on the rise and so are teen suicide rates. Teenage bullying, weight and appearance issues such as “Super Skinny” model envy are an epidemic among today's youth in a way that makes the controversy of t...... the focus of the paper ......t Right. The physiological pain they subject themselves to, whether through sleep deprivation or drugs and alcohol, also impacts their mental health. Perhaps one day the solution would involve screening potential parents through an application process before they are allowed to start a family. Screening all female college or high school seniors for any type of mental illness during their first year of school would help identify the type of resources needed to help those who might benefit from programs for depression or anxiety. For now, we can educate those who are too young to vote based on the weight of their personal decisions, regardless of whether those decisions are seemingly small, such as whether or not to show up for school, eat a balanced diet, or exercise one's right to procreate. or really big, like deciding to love yourself for who you are, no matter what.