Dr. Meg Jay
About Dr. Meg Jay
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The Twentysomething Treatment: A Revolutionary Remedy for an Uncertain Age
There is a young adult mental health crisis in America, and it is a crisis of proportion and of perception too. So many twentysomethings are struggling—especially with anxiety, depression and substance use—yet, as a culture, we are not sure what to think or do. Perhaps, it is said, they are snowflakes who melt when life turns up the heat. Or maybe, some argue, they’re triggered for no reason at all. Yet, even as we trivialize twentysomething struggles, we are quick to pathologize them and to hand out diagnoses and medications to young adults whose brains and bodies and lives are still on the move.
In this talk, developmental clinical psychologist, Meg Jay, shares her age-specific approach to young adult mental health. Her work is a proven prescription that reveals what twenty-five years of work with young adults—and the latest research—can teach us about what works with this age group. It is a revolutionary remedy that upends the medicalization of young adult life and stands up instead for skills over pills.
This conversation outlines three key routes to better twentysomething mental health: education, experience and expectations. You’ll learn why our twenties are the most difficult time of life as well as what uncertainty has to do with mental health. You’ll find out why our mental health is most likely to improve outside of a doctor’s office—through skill-building—and why, for the young adult brain in particular, the time for skill-building is now. You’ll learn about the skills twentysomethings need—or what exactly they need to be practicing or doing—for better mental health in their twenties and beyond. You’ll find out why mental health gets better as we get older and why, in the meantime, embracing uncertainty may be the most life-changing skill of all.
Mental health has never been more in the zeitgeist as today’s youth are the most willing in history to talk openly about it and to seek help. Yet, what kind of help they find and what those conversations are matters, not just for twentysomethings today but for the thirtysomethings and fortysomethings and fiftysomethings they may become. It is time to take young adult mental health seriously, not because twentysomethings cannot get better but because they can.
Speaking videos
Media coverage
Bestselling author, psychologist Meg Jay to speak on ‘Mental Health Strategies for Twentysomethings’
Meg Jay, author of the bestseller The Defining Decade, will appear at Colorado State University Tuesday, March 26, for a free public lecture.
Best Of: Meg Jay Helps Us Navigate, Understand, And Review Our Twenties
Meg Jay is a psychologist and author. In her new book, "The Twentysomething Treatment: A Revolutionary Remedy for an Uncertain Age," she explores the way our twenties set up the rest of our lives, and how the uncertainties that come with entering adulthood affect our brain. We sit down with her to talk about growing up, becoming an adult, and how our twenties stay with us all our lives.
Books by Dr. Meg Jay
“Supernormal: the untold story of adversity and resilience” (2017)
Whether it is the loss of a parent to death or divorce; bullying; alcoholism or drug abuse in the home; mental illness in a parent or a sibling; neglect; emotional, physical or sexual abuse; having a parent in jail; or growing up alongside domestic violence, nearly 75% of us experience adversity by the age of 20. But these experiences are often kept secret, as are our courageous battles to overcome them. Drawing on nearly two decades of work with clients and students, Jay tells the tale of ordinary people made extraordinary by these all-too-common experiences, everyday superheroes who have made a life out of dodging bullets and leaping over obstacles, even as they hide in plain sight as doctors, artists, entrepreneurs, lawyers, parents, activists, teachers, students and readers. She gives a voice to the supernormals among us as they reveal not only "How do they do it?" but also "How does it feel?" These powerful stories, and those of public figures from Andre Agassi to Jay Z, will show supernormals they are not alone but are, in fact, in good company. Marvelously researched and compassionately written, this exceptional book narrates the continuing saga that is resilience as it challenges us to consider whether -- and how -- the good wins out in the end.
“The Twentysomething Treatment: A Revolutionary Remedy for an Uncertain Age” (2024)
There is a young adult mental health crisis in America. So many twentysomethings are struggling—especially with anxiety, depression, and substance use—yet, as a culture, we are not sure what to think or do about it. Perhaps, it is said, young adults are snowflakes who melt when life turns up the heat. Or maybe, some argue, they’re triggered for no reason at all. Yet, even as we trivialize twentysomething struggles, we are quick to pathologize them and to hand out diagnoses and medications. Medication is sometimes, but not always, the best medicine. For twenty-five years, Meg Jay has worked as a clinical psychologist who specializes in twentysomethings, and here she argues that most don’t have disorders that must be treated: they have problems that can be solved. In these pages, she offers a revolutionary remedy that upends the medicalization of twentysomething life and advocates instead for skills over pills.
“The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter--And How to Make the Most of Them Now” (2013)
Our "thirty-is-the-new-twenty" culture tells us the twentysomething years don't matter. Some say they are a second adolescence. Others call them an emerging adulthood. Dr. Meg Jay, a clinical psychologist, argues that twentysomethings have been caught in a swirl of hype and misinformation, much of which has trivialized what is actually the most defining decade of adulthood. Drawing from almost two decades of work with hundreds of clients and students, The Defining Decade weaves the latest science of the twentysomething years with the behind-closed-doors stories from twentysomethings, themselves. The result is a provocative read that provides the tools necessary to make the most of your twenties, and shows us how work, relationships, personality, social networks, identity, and even the brain can change more during this decade than at any other time in adulthood—if we use the time wisely. The Defining Decade is a smart, compassionate and constructive book about the years we cannot afford to miss.
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