Robin Kirman at the LARB:
My two patients display almost every symptom recognized as part of the mental health crisis of today’s youth: a steep rise in depression, anxiety, self-harm, eating disorders, addiction, gambling, sexual indifference, and loneliness. The list appears diverse, and Kessa and Anthony could hardly present as more different, and yet what’s caught my attention is what they share. Neither can identify activities they find genuinely fun, or even just activities they engage in without obligation or compulsion.
And both struggle profoundly when I ask them: “What do you want?” Not what they feel they should want, and not what they want to be more like—but what they, themselves, desire from the world? Session after session, they try to find answers but invariably come up empty. And so we sit in the silence that forms their core, with the muted voice of desire grown too faint to guide them.
more here.
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