What the Jazz Age Can Teach Us About Mental Health Today

The 1920's are glamorized in today's culture. I, for one, am completely fascinated by the Roaring Twenties and the art, literature, and entertainment superstars that came out of that decade. I'm also fascinated by the undercurrents of disillusionment and despair that seem to define the decade. With the year 2020 being just around the corner, it seems that history is repeating itself, and now is as good a time as any to see what we can learn from our expatriate compatriots.

There were a lot of good things about the 20's. Women in America received the right to vote. Scientists were making great advancements in technology and scientific research. Cars, radios, household appliances, and film were becoming commonplace luxuries. The stock market was rising. But there were just as many negative aspects of society affecting citizens at the time.

During the 1920's, people were recovering from the first World War, the War to End All Wars. This was a trauma that affected soldiers and civilians alike. Prohibition also affected the collective psyche. This was a restraint many people rebelled against in the form of bootleggers, speakeasies, and organized crime.

Rebellion was prevalent during this era. Women rebelled against social norms with bold flapper fashion statements and behaviors, and young people rebelled against traditional culture by dancing the Charleston and listening to jazz music (which seem tame now, but appalled traditionalists at the time who believed these rhythms promoted promiscuity). The economy was also booming at the time, and many people had more money than they knew what to do with, which created feelings of boredom and purposelessness. There was also a great prosperity divide between the rich and the poor.

Many Americans, disillusioned with the idea of the American Dream, left the country and became the "Lost Generation." Paris was a popular hub for the writers, artists, and performers who now represent this generation, and one can see their lost-boy attitude in much of their work. This generation seemed to take a cue from their Gilded Age predecessors and covered up their personal problems with parties and glamour, and they succeeded in rewriting their own stories. They're now remembered fondly.

But their legacy is also one of depression and anxiety, as they were running away from their problems. (Many celebrities of the time suffered from specific mental illnesses, and mental health treatment was pretty primitive at the time, but I'm going to focus on the collective consciousness).

I mentioned that history is repeating itself, and it is. Millennials (those born from 1981-1996) are now around the same age as the generation that defined the Jazz Age was in the 1920's, and the same disillusionment and despair are coursing through our generation. The same boredom and purposelessness. The same rebellious spirit. We're coming out of the Iraq War and still dealing with conflict with the Middle East. We just went through a major recession. We're well-educated but underemployed (The American Dream is crumbling). Celebrities are having mental breakdowns. While crime rates are technically down, mass shootings and constant negative news stories make it feel like they're rising. Anti-American sentiments within this country seem to be the norm. Global Warming is a huge issue, and it feels like the world is ending. We're desperate for change and resentful of past generations.

At the same time, we're a generation that's caught between the nostalgia of the 20th century and the exciting, uncertain future of the 21st. Similarly, the Roaring 20's generation "seemed to break its wistful attachments to the recent past and usher in a more modern era." Advancements in technology and new forms of media are changing the way we see the world and interact with it. We don't need to move to Paris to connect with like-minded people. We don't need to run away from our problems. We can affect change and find resources to take better care of our own mental health.

To end on a hopeful note, what we can learn from the Jazz Age is that things aren't always as they seem, and they're not always lost. The future may be scary, but it isn't set in stone. We just need to face our problems.