Hey, everybody, welcome back to the Mo News podcast. We wanted to feature a few of our favorite

conversations from the last year during this holiday week. Today, we're featuring my co-host,

Jill Wagner's conversation with Nero Feliciano. It was an in-depth interview about the state

of mental health in this country, in particular teen mental health and what we can do about the crisis right now.

It's an important conversation, and it's one that we've had frequently on this podcast. Here's Jill.

Hi, everybody. I'm Jill Wagner, and you are listening to a special edition of the Mo News podcast.

There have been a lot of really troubling headlines recently about the declining mental health of teens and the increasing

rates of depression and suicide, particularly amongst teenage girls. So what's behind it? And more

importantly, what can we do about it? I am joined today by Nero, Feliciano, a cognitive psychotherapist and best-selling author.

You could often see her speaking on the third hour of the Today Show, NBC News Now,

and also in print on Oprah Daily, Parents.com, in style and Real Simple magazine,

where she shares tips and strategies around mental health and

parenting. And she's also the author of, this book won't make you happy, eight keys to finding

true contentment. I love that title, by the way. And she hosts her own podcast. It's called All Things

Life. Noreau, great to have you on. Thank you, Jill. Great to see you again.

Okay, so I want to just set the stage a bit here. The CDC recently released some really

startling statistics. According to surveys, 57% of female teens in the U.S. struggled with

feeling persistently sad, and this is as of 2021, and this is the last time that

that survey was done. Of the women surveyed 30% considered suicide, 24% planned suicide, and 13% attempted

it. And these numbers are up dramatically from just a decade ago. The rate for teen boys,

not quite at this level, but it is still climbing and it's jarringly high that CDC survey

has conducted every two years. And the rates of mental health problems have gone up with

...