Local therapists see more Gen X and baby boomers coming in for therapy

October is Mental Health Awareness Month.

It's no secret that younger generations are open about their mental health and the struggles they may face. But for Gen X and baby boomers, talking about trauma and feelings can be taboo. 

"We never talked about anything outside of the house, you know, all of our family stuff stayed in the family. I mean, that's just how our generation was," Bryan Wilmoth, a mental health advocate.

Bryan Wilmoth is a younger baby boomer who has been in therapy and is now a counselor at the Betty Ford Center, a nonprofit facility that provides treatment for addiction, mental health care, and research in Rancho Mirage.

For baby boomers and Gen X,  because of what they were taught growing up, getting mental health help can be a source of shame.

 "We were shut down. We were repressed," said Wilmoth. "We had nowhere to go, you know, nobody to talk to about the things that were happening at home." 

But things are different these days. The importance of taking care of your mental health has been a prominent part of the national discourse this past decade. For the younger generations, talking to therapists is no big deal. 

Gen Z doesn't struggle with that stigma," said Carolina Vasquez, a therapist and CEO of Desert Insight, a mental health service center in Cathedral City.

"They view it as, 'Well, my friend has a therapist. Why don't I have a therapist?' It's swung the other way," said Melissa Hawkins, a clinical supervisor with the Betty Ford Center.

But the stigma is still there for millions of older people. For Bryan Wilmoth, a rough childhood in the '70s and a traumatic time in the '80s watching almost all of his friends die from AIDS led him to therapy. 

"I ran with a posse of people in the '80s, and all of them died within six weeks of each other. And even amongst ourselves, they wouldn't talk about it, right?" Wilmoth said.

Therapy has helped Wilmoth work out the trauma and find emotional balance in his life. These days, Wilmoth says he only goes if he needs a tune-up visit.

While both national and regional statistics on the number of Gen X and baby boomers going to therapy are sparse, many local therapists are reporting more coming into their offices over the past five years — particularly Gen X clients, who are currently in the 44 to 59-year-old age range.

The Betty Ford center in Rancho Mirage reports about half of their current patients are 45 and older and that they've also seen an increase in older generations coming in for therapy. 

At Desert Insight, a mental health service center in Cathedral City, baby boomers and Generation X clients make up only about 21% of the client base. But lately, staff there report that more have been coming in.

"Gen X is the ones that I'm seeing a little bit more," said Vasquez. "And they're opening up, and they're ready to do the work, which is exciting, right? It's exciting because rather than accepting things as they have for a long time, they're getting ready to say, 'No, I want to live my life.'"

The stigma seems to be dissolving the more it's in the media, with discussions often initiated by younger generations, and government entities pushing for a spotlight on it. Hawkins points out that the rise of virtual therapy sessions at home also make it easier to attend and can take away the hassle and potential shame of walking into a brick and mortar office space.

"I think there's more exposure. I think, you know, for baby boomers, it's their grandchildren. For Gen X, it's their children. There's more conversations just in their family about mental health, mental health awareness," said Hawkins. 

That awareness can be key in lifting repressed trauma and emotions that experts say can lead to mental illness, physical problems, and poor relationships.

For Wilmoth, it's led to peace and the ability to set boundaries to maintain that peace. 

"I have this theory that feelings have a beginning, a middle, and an end, and when we shut them down, they sit there and just sit there, and they're incomplete until we start to shine a light on them," said Wilmoth. "But when you get out on the other side of it, you begin to see how bright everything could be." 

For more resources on mental health and treatments, head to mentalhealth.ca.gov.