The Incidence Of Failure To Launch Anxiety

By Jerry Thompson


When a person reaches the age of 18 to around 25, he or she is already transitioning into a full adult wherein he or she will learn how to sustain him or herself. However, it is usually in this stage wherein one would actually experience a quarter life crisis. This is because he or she is most likely experiencing a failure to launch anxiety or FTL syndrome.

This is also known as FTL syndrome and happens to almost everyone who reaches the age range. This is the age range that people have to start being independent and try to survive in the real world, which is why it is quite understandable if one would feel pretty pressured to do well. Unfortunately, most of the younger generations were not equipped properly which is why they get FTL syndrome in the first place.

While this is the case, parents also cannot fully be blamed for this. After the recession, most baby boomers who have experienced the economy slowly going up did not want their children to experience the hardships that they had to go through. That is why they decided to spoil their children a bit and try to make things comfy for them, all with good intent.

While the intention is quite pure, the result is that the next generation of young adults are not as strong mentally and emotionally. One reason would be because they live in a time where they are always used to getting what they want instantly. They will eventually be lead into a world wherein they cannot get everything right away and that they have to work for certain things.

With that, a lot of young adults resort to just avoiding problems instead of handling them head on. And that is very dangerous because a lingering feeling unsolved problems or problems that take time to solve can cause anxiety or possibly even depression. That is most likely why the depression rates of this generation are quite high.

Knowing the determinants of FTL, the main question here is how exactly this can be overcome. The first step to overcoming this issue is to first recognize it as an actual mental health problem instead of a phase. That said, maybe one would need a therapist if he or she is experiencing it.

While counselling can be helpful, parents and friends also play a really big role in helping one overcome this type of issue. Open dialogues should be encouraged between parent and child so that the child will not keep everything inside. And also, parents should learn to never put their kids down for failing. If anything, parents should encourage their kids to fail but learn from failure.

FTL syndrome is an actual syndrome that can really affect any young adult if not properly addressed. At the end of the day, the child has to grow up and turn into a young adult already. If he or she is not readily equipped with the right mindset, then he or she will definitely be at big risk of developing FTL syndrome.




About the Author: