How Bad is the Situation?
Mental health is everywhere, but it does not seem to be improving.
According to Mental Health for Adolescents Nearly 50% of adolescents have or had a mental health disorder at some point in their life. Anxiety is the most common type of disorder among teenagers with 32% of people having symptoms.
Between 2002 and 2023 around 60 million adults received help with their mental health through counseling or treatment.
Suicide is the 11th leading cause of death in the United States with nearly 50,000 Americans dying in 2022, and 1.6 million people attempted to commit suicide according to Suicide Statistics.
Casey Knuth from Mental Health America said that mental health has not only become more recognized but has also gotten worse, even with more available support.
“More than 80% of people who are treated for depression improve,” says Mental Health America.
Treatments have come so far, and there are so many options, but simply numbing the pain is not enough.
If there is just a high rate of improvement, why is mental health still such a big issue?
The Times are Changing
A majority of mental health resources did not become available to the general public until after 2010, but some of the earliest advocacy organizations started in the early 2000s.
Currently, there are almost 30,000 mental health organizations in the United States. There are over 10,000 mental health apps available, and a majority of them are free.
“Mental health organizations have been fighting for decreased mental health stigma for years,” said Knuth.
For many generations, people have been told to ignore their feelings, or “get over it.“ This generation has finally decided to stand up to the cycle and they want to talk about mental health. Increasing mental health resources only helps a person deal with the problems they are facing. They cannot remove the distress that is causing a person to struggle.
Many causes for the mental struggle of current generations are due to higher issues than the general public can solve with politics, money, housing, and stability. These environmental factors cannot be solved by small organizations and are more on the government level of issues.
The newer generations are actually fighting to try and give all people access to their basic human needs so that everyone can have the opportunity for a successful life. Gen Z has become the main advocates of mental health and finding support for all people.
With the help of social media there are now many mental health influencers and people who share their experiences with mental struggles to help other people who are struggling.
Schoolwide Mental Block
Teenagers everywhere have seemed to have an overall bad year this year, but why is that?
Knuth said that one of the issues causing this decline in mental health
is the constant news and information exposure from social media and everything online.
With so much negativity everywhere all the time it is hard to find hope and gratitude for the things we have. Peer pressure makes people uncomfortable, influencers tell people how they should act or who they should be, and shows or movies give people unrealistic expectations of how their lives will be.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs shows that humans need to have their basic human of survival, safety and security, love and belongings, and then a person can begin to focus on themselves.
Schools are already doing as much as they physically can to help provide students with mental health help.
Knuth says, “One practical thing that might be helpful is decreased schoolroom sizes.”
Having smaller classes would allow teachers to build stronger bonds with students, allowing the students to feel more valued and allow them to get a more personal education.
How do we get better?
With all the negativity and peer pressure around every corner, it is extremely hard for people to live in the moment. Students need to learn how to take time to themselves to slow down and be where their feet are at any given moment.
Gratitude is taken for granted, and many people do not fully understand all that they have. This is because the media shows people everything they do not have.
“One of the best things anyone can do to improve their mental health,” said Knuth,“is to have a hobby that brings them joy.”
Hobbies allow a person to sit down and take time for themselves while doing something that they enjoy. Parents can help their children with their mental health through active listening.
Knuth says, “They seek to understand what their child is telling them and not just listen to respond.”
Many parents do not fully listen to what their children are saying. Too many parents talk over their children or wait for a specific answer. This is a generational issue that the current generation is trying to move past.
What Should Higher Powers be Doing?
The government needs to find a way to provide more affordable housing and nutrition to all people. Unfortunately, it is not as easy as that due to country and state debts.
Taxes and inflation have gotten so high due to the United States trying to help all kinds of other countries with their conflicts. One of the major stressors about school that is everywhere in the media is gun violence.
Gun Violence in America states Every day 125 people are killed by gunshot and over 200 are shot and wounded.
According to CNN reporters Alex Leeds Matthews, Amy O’Kruk, and Annette Choi, there have been 81 school shootings in the U.S. this year.
Mexico is the country with the second most number of school shootings with only 8 between January 2009 to May 2018. in that same time frame, the United States experienced 288 according to School Shootings by Country 2024.
It is clear why many children do not feel safe at school and something needs to be done by the government to improve the safety of the country.
While it is seen as a basic human right to bear arms, not everyone is capable or stable enough to hold a life-ending weapon in their hands. A majority of suicides per year are via gunshot.
Why do People do This?
A majority of violent incidents are due to people struggling with mental health disorders caused by their upbringing. A person might get into a fight at school to gain the attention of their parents. Someone might steal to get food to eat.
Not everyone does bad things for bad reasons, but the actions they pursue are still not completely justified. Accountability is something that has been neglected throughout recent years.
People complete a harmful action causing someone else pain, and then they do not feel the need to see what they did to the other person or have empathy for the other person’s pain. Most people just want to feel empathy and be understood for their pain instead of being brushed off.
Mental health is talked about much more than it used to be, but people are still not exploring the emotions and problems behind their struggles in order to work on their flaws and improve.
Psychology Behind Mental Illness
The pieces of mental health within a person’s brain go back to the common debate of Nature vs. Nurture. Mental health disorders can be caused based on environmental factors, but many conditions can also be genetic.
New Data Reveal Extent of Genetic Overlap between Major Mental Disorders states Genetic disorders have about a 25% change of showing up in offspring, but the percentage goes up to 75% in twins.
Nurture and the environment a person grows up can defiantly increase a person’s chances of developing a mental disorder. Mental disorders can develop at any age, but are most common for people in school.
Mental disorders are mostly caused by a person being put under extreme stressors or many stressors all at once. Developing a mental disorder is no one’s fault.
All that matters is that a person receives help and tries to resolve the stress that is causing enough pressure to form a mental disorder.
There is still not a lot known about mental health and the complete science behind why the brain reacts like this.
In the past it seemed that doctors would just prescribe medicines to cover up the symptoms of mental illness, but it has been proven to not help nearly as much as counseling and working through the causes of mental distress.
Resources
There are a plethora of resources available to anyone of any demographic who might need them because nobody deserves to struggle.
988 is the Indiana Suicide and Crisis Hotline. If you or anyone you know is struggling with mental health. Say something. It is better to cause a commotion than lose innocent lives.
If you notice a friend or loved one acting strange or seeming like they could be struggling, ask them if they need help and offer them a safe space. Helping a person who is struggling with mental health is difficult. Tell a trusted adult to help keep loved ones safe.
Mental struggle is not something that anyone should be blamed or ridiculed for.
Everyone deserves help and love.
