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Giving Hope back to our Young People: Creating a New Spiritual Mythology for Western Culture

There is extensive psychological literature which has linked hopelessness with depression and suicide risk for decades. Although there is a strong research and clinical base for targeting depression, there is a gap in the psychological literature when it comes to targeting hopelessness, specifically. In the absence of such a body of psychological literature, this paper draws on the research from the Futures Studies field which also records a rise in hopelessness, negativity and fear of the future among young people in the West. These phenomena (hopelessness, depression and suicide) will be analysed using Causal Layered Analysis, a methodology from the Futures Studies field, pointing to the long-term psycho-social impact on youth of the materialistic worldview that underpins Western culture. The paper will also explore the question: "how can hope for the future be promoted?" by looking beyond the dominance of materialism to spiritually inspired worldviews and the new metaphors and stories that arise from them.