My guest this week is psychologist Dr. Noam Shpancer, author of the novel The Good Psychologist (affiliate link). We explored the ongoing crisis in mental health among young people, and discussed possible ways to address it. I really enjoyed talking with Noam and hearing his insights and nuanced perspective on these issues.

Topics we discussed included:

• The Psychology Today magazine article that Noam wrote about youth mental health (see this related post on his blog)
• The soaring rates of mental health disorders among young people
• The multiple causes of these increases
  • Global anomie
  • COVID pandemic
  • Possible changes in parenting and culture
• The idea that fragility is central to one’s identity
• The role of social media in teen mental health
• Effects of the 24-hour news cycle on emotional well-being
• The difficulty in studying the effects of social media
• The problem with aggregate statistics
• Possible complex effects of social media on well-being
• Content and process effects of social media
• The fracturing of social fabric and weakening of tribal bonds
• The “dosing problem” of the steady stream of online content
• Similarities between online platforms and the food industry
• The decline in the age of puberty onset
• The need for a multi-pronged approach to curb the damage of social media

Noam Shpancer, PhD, was born and raised on kibbutz Nachshon, near Jerusalem, Israel.

He received his BA from the University of Houston, and a PhD in clinical psychology from Purdue University, before completing a post-doctoral fellowship at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.

He is currently a Professor of Psychology at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio.

Noam’s research interests center on issues of childcare and development.

He is also a licensed, practicing clinical psychologist with the Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Therapy in Columbus, Ohio, specializing in the treatment of anxiety disorders.