Stop Loss

Stop Loss: To end a trade once a specific target is reached or exceeded, designed to prevent further loss.

***Disclaimer***I am not an expert in finance, the stock market, or Mark Zuckerberg.

As 2024 comes to a close, I can’t help but consider the term “stop-loss” as a fitting adjective for a year compounded by uncertainty and hope. The emotional roller-coaster of life post-Covid19 seems to have created nausea for those anticipating a recession or living with the aftermath of workforce genocide. While retail trade has diminished in last few years, unemployment rates have been on the slow and steady rise. People of the world are free to socialize and interact as they wish, yet social isolation has become so prevalent the Surgeon General deemed an “epidemic of lonliness” is amongst us. But maybe the most worrisome (and within my actual scope) is the rate at which anxiety, depression, and suicide has risen over the years. Specifically with adolescents and young adults. The emotional despair of the time has me pondering the concept of “stop-loss”, Wall Street’s proverbial term for a tourniquet, where one cuts their loses in an effort to survive. What exactly will be the “stop-loss” for identity loss, isolation, and mental illness?

For the sake of scope of practice, I will stay in my lane and focus on the mental health aspect of our current culture. The target of Mark Zuckerberg’s financial success, political influence, and/or social impact is unbeknown to me; however, I suspect it has been reached, and now all investments are at risk. Not for Mark of course, but for the consumer of social media whom is at risk of losing time, energy, critical thought, and yes, a healthy state of mental health. These invaluable investments are less seen in quantifiable terms, but felt by families, parents, spouses, and community.

Earlier in the year, a young man came into my office plagued with symptoms of depression. He reported a lack of motivation and ambition, a desire to isolate in his room, and frequent thoughts of “not being here” (clinically referred to as suicidal ideation). During my initial intake session with him, I discovered that he was spending more than 6 hours a day on social media. He described the content of his “feed” as heavy with themes of romantic breakups, sadness, and despair. Which, coincidentally started around the time he broke up with his girlfriend. During his treatment we discussed goals and strategies to address and manage his symptoms of depression, reducing his time on social media being the first and foremost. He initiated creating  a new profile on his platform of choice, which mainly consisted of his art and video game interests. Two weeks after his initial session his symptoms had significantly decreased.

Now I would love to take credit and reference his one hour per week in my office as a significant source for his improvement, but I am not a magician. I also did not spend an abundance of time throughout the week repeating information via smartphone. Jonathan Haidt, author of “Anxious Generation”, suggests that social media is largely responsible for increase in anxiety, depression, and suicide amongst adolescents and young adults. This feels alarming to read, and more dire to witness.

Social media has seduced us with the instant gratification of perceived engagement, only to leave us emotionally bankrupt. A siren call that lures the underdeveloped minds of youth into a vortex of content designed to paralyze and influence. The idea of small talk, initiating conversation, or meeting new people has become utterly terrifying for some, while others use their “handle” to summarize themselves. However, most will engage online with complete strangers and deem the condensed interactions as connection or a relationship. All while their physiological-self suffers the effects of social malnutrition. The answer must be to restrict or forbid the use of social media … except that kind of seems like trying to get spilt milk back in the jug.

So then, how do we stop the bleeding this year? How do we find our way back to one another in order to develop genuine connection and maybe even absorb a little vitamin D?

We go back to being the simple beings that we humans are.

People often ask me why I was drawn to psychology, and my answer has not changed over the years: because as different as we all are, we are also very much the same. We are simple, we need sleep, fresh sources of nutrition, physical exercise, and as pack animals, we need other people. A sense of belonging is one of the strongest deterrents against depression. Group engagement through sports, church, academics, acrobatic yoga all provide a sense of belonging that meets one of our very basic needs. I don’t understand Dungeons and Dragons, but those guys find themselves in each other, and that’s what matters.

Watching reel after reel of a TikTok therapist or learning all the criteria for the latest buzz diagnosis is not going stop the bleeding, if anything it applies more pressure. So as this year comes to an end, my biggest suggestion:: Stop watching therapists on TikTok. That is not therapy. Go to an office, or log on if that is your only option. Go to the park and sit in the sunlight (don’t forget sunscreen). Get sleep, eat, drink water. Remember that you are a human. A very basic, and complicated human.