By Uma Hiremath
INE TED Columnist
BOSTON–“Afterwards people asked, ‘How could you not know? What kind of a mother were you?’ I still ask myself those same questions.”
In a searingly painful talk, Sue Klebold explores the tenebrous connection between violence and mental health issues. It was her son, nurtured in a pacifist family with a history of community philanthropy, who was one of the Columbine High School killers of 1999.
Twenty years later, a Pew Research Center survey has found seven in ten teens believe anxiety and depression to be the most significant problem among their peers. As parents and caretakers of the next generation, we are all achingly aware those numbers will be rising in this upended pandemic world.
Being proactive in recognizing mental health issues and committing to combat its effects with early intervention is the most important takeaway from this compelling TEDMED talk.
