It’s not you, being twentysomething is tough. Here’s how to find hope when the struggle is real, according to a psychologist

Meg Jay wrote the book on treatments for twentysomethings. She explains how young adult brains are more likely to think catastrophically—and feel negatively—than those of older adults, and they have less experience managing those thoughts and feelings.

Meg Jay is a developmental clinical psychologist specializing in young adult mental health. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, and on NPR and BBC. She gave a wildly successful TED Talk, “Why 30 Is Not the New 20.” Jay is on faculty at the University of Virginia and maintains her own private practice.