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.

Failure to launch syndrome, also known as FTL syndrome, is a common issue that many young adults have when they start transitioning into the stage wherein they have to be on their own and fend for themselves. Unfortunately, FTL syndrome is a possible product of parents not properly equipping their kids for the harshness of life. That is why most children of this generation end up entitled and dependent on their parents.

Of course, parents do not do this on purpose as there is good intentions involved in all of this. The previous generation of baby boomers were the ones who were born during the rising of the world economy and had to step up in order to have a good life. While they were going through hardships, they did not want their children to go through the same thing, which is why they provide their kids with comfortable lives.

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.

While it is admirable for parents to want to shield their children from the world, it could be a double edged sword. One incident like this may actually slow down the development of a child. If a child is brought up without the concept of hardship and perseverance, he or she will not be equipped for the outside world. With that, chance of getting FTL syndrome are high.




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