http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/recovery-life/201004/are-baby-boomers-paying-price
Published on April 7, 2010
by Harris B. Stratyner
In the name of full disclosure, I must admit that I am a baby boomer.
The broadest definition includes those born between the years 1946 to
1964; although, many individuals simply think of a birth date in the 50's.
I wonder if we baby boomers are paying a price for the carefree
lifestyle we enjoyed beginning in the Eisenhower years - culminating
with the tumultuous love fest during the 60's? Things were so
carefree back then. We went from "Leave it to Beaver," to "make love
not war" in one great swoop!
Drugs like marijuana were consumed in great quantities, as well as
hallucinogenics like LSD. We were all into expanding our minds -
trying to take ourselves to a "higher plane" through "better chemistry."
Perhaps the lurking fear of the cold war spurred us on or the reality
of Vietnam made us want to escape. Perhaps, we were not so carefree after all?
In any case, drug use back them seemed to be about mind-expansion
rather than self-medicating as we see today. Are baby boomers paying
a price for our exponential industrial revolution which perhaps led
to the technical revolution and need to press our children to be
bigger and better, faster and more adept?
Today, we see mere youngsters who have no need to go "around the
world in 80 days," but simply go online and they are wherever they
want to be in a flash. We see teenagers consuming pain killers
perhaps to kill their pain and fear in case they don't get into the
college of their choice.
They often hear their parents looking to connect with them by
unfortunately discussing their past drug use, but the zeitgeist is so
different. In reality, drugs were never good nor safe. Not back then
and now now.
What I am talking about here is the impetus for their use and the
shift in why they are used. Some young people still want to get high.
But please don't miss out on the fact that many are also scared of
the pressures of life. Events like September 11th may seem a tad
closer to home than the Vietnam War - for those of us who didn't
participate and only received news thousands of miles away via television!
Speaking of which - stay tuned for an upcoming blog about young
people who are fighting our wars and the relationship between PTSD
and substance abuse.
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