By Genna Barner
The Moxie Mountie
Northwest HS
1st Place
Division 3, News Writing
Editorial
As students go through the natural changes of life, some often feel mixed emotions that can be difficult to describe. Develop-ing unhealthy methods of cop-ing with these emotional hard-ships has the possibility to lead to more serious issues including depression, countless forms of anxiety, eating disorders, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
The stress students face each day between school and their personal lives has caused mental illnesses to become more prominent in young adults today.
Emotional instability is too often the subject of jokes when it should not be. The severity of these illnesses and emotional turmoils is largely misunderstood by people who do not experience them first hand.
Mental illness does not have requirements. It can attach itself to someone of any race, gender, religion or age. Only the individual experiencing the hardship
of the affliction knows exactly how they feel, therefore, others should not attempt to discredit someone else’s feelings.
These types of illnesses are just as serious as physical sickness. Mental instabilities are not something that should be idealized or romanticized. It is problematic and disturbing when people attempt to seek beauty in these disorders instead of urging those suffering to seek help.
In order to combat this growing issue, students must be educated accurately on mental illnesses in order to raise awareness. According to National Alliance on Mental Illness, one in five children ages 13-18 have, or will have a serious mental illness. With there being a 20 percent chance of a student having mental instabilities, they need to be aware of what early warning signs are. If students are concerned about their or someone else’s well-being, they should be taught to ask a professional and not self-diagnose.
Self-diagnosing is not reliable because it can lead to an over or under diagnosis. Self-diagnosing can lead to a misunderstanding of what is truly going wrong and can possibly lead to the wrong treatment.
It should be stressed more often that, if a person needs guidance, there are professionals they can turn to for comfort. Different organizations and mental health care providers such as Lifeways Community Mental Health, A Healing Place, and Allegiance Behavioral Health Services must be made aware to students. Teen-agers should know where and who they can turn to within their community.
Those who suffer should seek treatment from a therapist or psychiatrist, and should not feel weak or ashamed for doing so. If in need, anyone can call 1-800-950-6264 for support.