PSYCHIATRIC VIEWS ON THE DAILY NEWS
“Brain rot” was picked as Oxford University Press’s Word of the Year for 2024, even though technically it is 2 words! Perhaps that misalignment in and of itself is a sign of brain rot! Now I suppose it could be condensed into 1 word, brainrot, but it has not, as if to emphasize and illustrate the “rot.”
In general, the term brain rot is supposed to refer to the decline of a person’s brain functioning, resulting from too much online preoccupation on trivial matters.
So, if there is not already enough evidence of decreasing mental health and increasing of formal DSM diagnoses, brain rot may increase that concern. Although it is not an official diagnosis, it is characterized by mental fogginess, lethargy, and reduced attention span.
Australia apparently has already recognized brain rot in their youth, and is acting politically to address it. A law is scheduled to go into effect banning social media for those under 16. The United States has been flirting with TikTok removal, but for political reasons, not mental health concerns.
This Australian law follows the radical gun law reform in 1996 when shotguns and rifles were banned. Over 700,000 guns were surrendered, reducing suicide potential and other related violence.
Australian has many cultural conditions like the United States. Bhutan, a small, isolated country does not, but is also embarking on improving the mental health of its citizens. Almost 10 years after we questioned on November 10, 2016, “Can the President-Elect Yield Gross National Happiness?” like Bhutan was trying, the results of the first Trump administration and the Biden administration were negative. Bhutan, on the other hand, has embarked on stage 2 of their emphasis on Gross National Happiness with the building of a “mindfulness city.” This “mindful capitalism” will not only focus on economic profit but on ecological harmony and spiritual contentment.1
What do Australia and Bhutan understand that we in the United States do not?
Mental health concerns in the United States are also escalating right past 16-year-olds, as those in the age bracket of 18 to 29 are now labelled to be in the age “emerging adulthood.”2 Spurred by hovering “helicopter parenting” morphing more recently into “snowplow parenting” that removes obstacles growing up, along with post-industrial pressures for work success, has been leading to an age with the most life instability and high risk behaviors.
Some of the symptoms of brain rot also overlap with those of burnout. Burnout is still an epidemic in physicians and gradually increasing in other workers and parents. It appears that America is first in burnout.
The main cause of burnout is undue and unexpected system control and disengagement of workers. Similarly in some ways, social media symptoms are influenced by the addictive nature of the systems which control the user with positive reinforcement techniques. It is not coincidental that in teens, especially females, suicide risk has been increasing.
Our outgoing Surgeon General Murthy has issued warnings about alcohol and cancer, loneliness, firearm violence and, yes, the social media associated with brain rot. Every major disaster, like the current LA wildfires, leads to increased grief, including prolonged grief, and posttraumatic stress disorders. And we should not forget the rising anxiety among immigrants threatened with deportation.
Certainly, all these adverse trends are potentially reversible. However, as Australia and Bhutan have already shown, the solutions are mainly political and will require effective lobbying on the part of psychiatric organizations, but self-care and communities of caring at school, work, and after disasters like the LA wildfires, can provide some benefits in the short run.
Ketamine is getting more attention, both with underground use of micro doses of this partial psychedelic and the recent US Food and Drug Administration approval of esketamine (Spravato) as a stand-alone therapy for treatment-resistant depression. Whether micro doses of psychedelics are therapeutic or a version of the socially tranquilizing soma of the novel Brave New World is yet to be determined.
I have heard no mental health plan coming out of our country’s new presidential administration. No wonder that the American Psychiatric Association has thankfully emphasized positive lifestyle at this timely time. We do not want rotting brains; we want enriching brains.
Dr Moffic is an award-winning psychiatrist who specialized in the cultural and ethical aspects of psychiatry and is now in retirement and retirement as a private pro bono community psychiatrist. A prolific writer and speaker, he has done a weekday column titled “Psychiatric Views on the Daily News” and a weekly video, “Psychiatry & Society,” since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. He was chosen to receive the 2024 Abraham Halpern Humanitarian Award from the American Association for Social Psychiatry. Previously, he received the Administrative Award in 2016 from the American Psychiatric Association, the one-time designation of being a Hero of Public Psychiatry from the Speaker of the Assembly of the APA in 2002, and the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill in 1991. He presented the third Rabbi Jeffrey B. Stiffman lecture at Congregation Shaare Emeth in St. Louis on Sunday, May 19, 2024. He is an advocate and activist for mental health issues related to climate instability, physician burnout, and xenophobia. He is now editing the final book in a 4-volume series on religions and psychiatry for Springer: Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, Christianity, and now The Eastern Religions, and Spirituality. He serves on the Editorial Board of Psychiatric Times.
References
1. Campbell C. Opening the invisible hand: Bhutan’s ambitious plan to boost its economy with a “mindfulness city.” TIME. January 16, 2025. Accessed January 23, 2025. https://time.com/7204652/gelephu-mindfulness-city-bhutan-economy/
2. Iarovici D. A generation in crisis. Yale Alumni Magazine. January 2025. Accessed January 23, 2025. https://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/5993-a-generation-in-crisis
Blog
Article
Social Psychiatric New Years Resolution #4: Preventing Rotting Brains
Author(s):
Key Takeaways
- "Brain rot" signifies mental decline from excessive online engagement, raising concerns about mental health deterioration.
- Australia and Bhutan are implementing political measures to address mental health, contrasting with the U.S.'s lack of action.
- Rising mental health issues in the U.S. are linked to social media, parenting styles, and systemic pressures on young adults.
- Solutions involve political advocacy, community support, and self-care, with ketamine emerging as a potential treatment for depression.
SHOW MOREHow can we prevent brain rot?
Farknot Architect/AdobeStock
PSYCHIATRIC VIEWS ON THE DAILY NEWS
“Brain rot” was picked as Oxford University Press’s Word of the Year for 2024, even though technically it is 2 words! Perhaps that misalignment in and of itself is a sign of brain rot! Now I suppose it could be condensed into 1 word, brainrot, but it has not, as if to emphasize and illustrate the “rot.”
In general, the term brain rot is supposed to refer to the decline of a person’s brain functioning, resulting from too much online preoccupation on trivial matters.
So, if there is not already enough evidence of decreasing mental health and increasing of formal DSM diagnoses, brain rot may increase that concern. Although it is not an official diagnosis, it is characterized by mental fogginess, lethargy, and reduced attention span.
Australia apparently has already recognized brain rot in their youth, and is acting politically to address it. A law is scheduled to go into effect banning social media for those under 16. The United States has been flirting with TikTok removal, but for political reasons, not mental health concerns.
This Australian law follows the radical gun law reform in 1996 when shotguns and rifles were banned. Over 700,000 guns were surrendered, reducing suicide potential and other related violence.
Australian has many cultural conditions like the United States. Bhutan, a small, isolated country does not, but is also embarking on improving the mental health of its citizens. Almost 10 years after we questioned on November 10, 2016, “Can the President-Elect Yield Gross National Happiness?” like Bhutan was trying, the results of the first Trump administration and the Biden administration were negative. Bhutan, on the other hand, has embarked on stage 2 of their emphasis on Gross National Happiness with the building of a “mindfulness city.” This “mindful capitalism” will not only focus on economic profit but on ecological harmony and spiritual contentment.1
What do Australia and Bhutan understand that we in the United States do not?
Mental health concerns in the United States are also escalating right past 16-year-olds, as those in the age bracket of 18 to 29 are now labelled to be in the age “emerging adulthood.”2 Spurred by hovering “helicopter parenting” morphing more recently into “snowplow parenting” that removes obstacles growing up, along with post-industrial pressures for work success, has been leading to an age with the most life instability and high risk behaviors.
Some of the symptoms of brain rot also overlap with those of burnout. Burnout is still an epidemic in physicians and gradually increasing in other workers and parents. It appears that America is first in burnout.
The main cause of burnout is undue and unexpected system control and disengagement of workers. Similarly in some ways, social media symptoms are influenced by the addictive nature of the systems which control the user with positive reinforcement techniques. It is not coincidental that in teens, especially females, suicide risk has been increasing.
Our outgoing Surgeon General Murthy has issued warnings about alcohol and cancer, loneliness, firearm violence and, yes, the social media associated with brain rot. Every major disaster, like the current LA wildfires, leads to increased grief, including prolonged grief, and posttraumatic stress disorders. And we should not forget the rising anxiety among immigrants threatened with deportation.
Certainly, all these adverse trends are potentially reversible. However, as Australia and Bhutan have already shown, the solutions are mainly political and will require effective lobbying on the part of psychiatric organizations, but self-care and communities of caring at school, work, and after disasters like the LA wildfires, can provide some benefits in the short run.
Ketamine is getting more attention, both with underground use of micro doses of this partial psychedelic and the recent US Food and Drug Administration approval of esketamine (Spravato) as a stand-alone therapy for treatment-resistant depression. Whether micro doses of psychedelics are therapeutic or a version of the socially tranquilizing soma of the novel Brave New World is yet to be determined.
I have heard no mental health plan coming out of our country’s new presidential administration. No wonder that the American Psychiatric Association has thankfully emphasized positive lifestyle at this timely time. We do not want rotting brains; we want enriching brains.
Dr Moffic is an award-winning psychiatrist who specialized in the cultural and ethical aspects of psychiatry and is now in retirement and retirement as a private pro bono community psychiatrist. A prolific writer and speaker, he has done a weekday column titled “Psychiatric Views on the Daily News” and a weekly video, “Psychiatry & Society,” since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. He was chosen to receive the 2024 Abraham Halpern Humanitarian Award from the American Association for Social Psychiatry. Previously, he received the Administrative Award in 2016 from the American Psychiatric Association, the one-time designation of being a Hero of Public Psychiatry from the Speaker of the Assembly of the APA in 2002, and the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill in 1991. He presented the third Rabbi Jeffrey B. Stiffman lecture at Congregation Shaare Emeth in St. Louis on Sunday, May 19, 2024. He is an advocate and activist for mental health issues related to climate instability, physician burnout, and xenophobia. He is now editing the final book in a 4-volume series on religions and psychiatry for Springer: Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, Christianity, and now The Eastern Religions, and Spirituality. He serves on the Editorial Board of Psychiatric Times.
References
1. Campbell C. Opening the invisible hand: Bhutan’s ambitious plan to boost its economy with a “mindfulness city.” TIME. January 16, 2025. Accessed January 23, 2025. https://time.com/7204652/gelephu-mindfulness-city-bhutan-economy/
2. Iarovici D. A generation in crisis. Yale Alumni Magazine. January 2025. Accessed January 23, 2025. https://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/5993-a-generation-in-crisis
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Facing the First Days of the Pandemic: A Conversation With David Chong, MD, and Sara Nash, MD
Psychiatric Inaugurations
Lloyd Sederer, MD: A Conversation About Addiction and the Opioid Epidemic
Peace and Conflict Resolution in Our American Psychiatric Association and the Mideast
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