Disciplines like education, sociology, and anthropology offer new perspectives for examining the inherently interdisciplinary and pressing issue of adolescent depression. Photo: TUCHONG

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Adolescence is often regarded as a critical period, akin to a “violent storm,” a stage of life where challenges and opportunities for growth coexist. During this phase of rapid physical and psychological changes, adolescents exhibit exceptional sensitivity to societal transformations. Their mental, emotional, and moral worlds are rich terrains deserving in-depth exploration. Emotional and affective disorders, with depression as a prominent example, have emerged as defining concerns of our times, serving as a prism through which to reflect on the circumstances and inner worlds of adolescents.

Despite the growing attention to topics related to adolescent depression, such issues are often avoided in everyday discussions or elicit undue alarm. When adolescents face mental health challenges such as depression, these issues are typically confined to the domains of psychology or psychiatry. However, beyond these two fields, disciplines like education, sociology, and anthropology offer new perspectives for examining these inherently interdisciplinary and pressing issues.

Education: Pathological adaptation

In the field of education studies, the concept of “pathological adaptation,” proposed by renowned Chinese education theorist Lu Jie, provides a lens through which to understand adolescent depression. In 2007, Lu argued that contemporary education entails pathological adaptation, distancing students from transcendent aspirations and tethering them to unreasonable systems such as exam-oriented education. To this day, the negative effects of fierce competition and simplistic evaluation criteria associated with exam-focused systems have yet to be fundamentally resolved.

In recent years, educational competition has not subsided but intensified instead, beginning at increasingly earlier stages and even extending into university. Online discussions have given rise to satirical remarks about the “critical stages” of life for Chinese people. For instance, in basic education, unequal distribution of education resources has pushed competition from the college entrance exam (gaokao) back to the high school entrance exam (zhongkao) and even earlier to the transition from elementary to middle school, which has now become a “battleground filled with the smoke of war.”

Amid the division between general high schools and vocational education, many parents worry about their children failing to enter a general high school and facing uncertain prospects in vocational schools. Academically high-achieving students, while bearing the pressure of maintaining their performance, are comparatively better positioned to navigate the existing competitive system. However, not all students can find their place within this rigid framework.

Today, adolescents are being swept up in an increasingly intense cycle of competition. Parents’ pervasive anxiety and excessive control over their children, the resultant loss of a sense of meaning among teenagers, and the emergence of discourses like “going mad” and “lying flat” among university students all reflect pathological adaptations to an unreasonable and flawed education system.

Sociology: Scarcity of hope

How can we temper the unrelenting competition frenzy in basic education and break free from pathological adaptations? How can we counter the infiltration and damage caused by narrow utilitarianism to university culture? Sociology’s discourse on “hope” may offer valuable insights, providing perspectives on the mechanisms of depression and strategies for its alleviation.

Hope is central to human survival and serves as an undercurrent in many sociological studies. It is equally significant to individuals and society. In the diagnostic framework of depression, key indicators include a depressed mood or a loss of interest and pleasure—symptoms intrinsically tied to an individual’s inner sense of hope.

Xu Kaiwen, a psychology professor at Peking University, introduced terms like “hollow heart disease,” “rubber man,” and “psychological haze” to describe the psychological challenges faced by contemporary Chinese adolescents, addressing both their external circumstances and internal states. He suggested that more teenagers are grappling with strong loneliness and a sense of meaninglessness, which can escalate from academic burnout to school avoidance, dropping out, living in a “cocoon,” and even extreme behaviors. When adolescents see no path forward, they lose motivation and find it difficult to experience meaning or hope.

Anthropology: A lens of moral life

Senior Harvard professor of anthropology Arthur Kleinman underscored the moral dimensions of depression, exploring the importance of moral life through the lived experiences of ordinary people. According to Kleinman, depression reveals the intricate relationship between individuals and society. It is a social emotion and disorder, deeply intertwined with societal structures, suffering, and relationships. When fundamental values and emotional bonds are threatened or lost, individuals experience inner turmoil and despair, plunging into a profound existential crisis. The gravest consequence of such crises and impermanence is the inability to “live a moral life.”

The moral life perspective helps us comprehend the unique implications of adolescent depression for those affected, thereby informing strategies for mitigation. Cambridge anthropologist W. H. R. Rivers observed that social norms become embodied in individuals: cultural values shape gestures, attitudes, and emotions, while collective standards of right and wrong guide our understanding of self-worth. However, the process of aligning individuals with societal norms or moral education can, under certain conditions, foster harmful behavioral patterns.

In essence, the same social norms that shape us as moral beings can, in specific contexts, lead us into peril. Reevaluating moral standards can disrupt these dangerous cycles, preventing the misuse and overextension of moral frameworks. On a personal level, living a moral life within an intensely competitive environment requires a continual reassessment of one’s circumstances and values.

Multidisciplinary perspectives needed

Adolescent depression is not solely a psychiatric or psychological issue; it is also deeply rooted in family, education, and societal dynamics, reflecting a broader response to the challenges of family life, schooling, and social structures. The perspectives offered by education, sociology, and anthropology emphasize the importance of recognizing the social origins of mental health challenges. Mental wellbeing should not be treated as a purely individual matter. Instead, it demands collective responsibility from families, schools, and society as a whole.

  

Cheng Meng is an associate professor from the Institute of Education Theories at Beijing Normal University. 

Edited by CHEN MIRONG