What Students Are Saying About Teen Mental Health, Moderating Speech and Special Talents

My personal journey about mental health is long overdue. I have been in and out of therapy since I was very young and very good medicine for depression / anxiety. I lived in the sin of what I had done to myself, of what I had suffered from my parents. I’m only 11/12. I have thoughts that I don’t know how to process, urges to do things I should never have done. I hated everyone, and especially myself. I missed my childhood because of extreme anxiety, and I can’t get it back. I seem to be lacking, even now. I’ve been clean for almost three years now, and I’ve done better. I’m on meds, I’m in stable therapy, and I have a very good support system. But healing is not linear. Days, weeks, months, years of progress cannot be erased if you have a period or return. I’m so glad I’m alive now, but I have moments that I haven’t. That won’t stop my progress. In all of these comments, I am proud of you. <3

– B.

Almost all of my peers have some form of mental illness, they are not treated for it. Telling this to someone from the older generations can provoke snarky comments like “your generation is so sensitive,” but that only reinforces my idea that the older generations struggle like mental health, but was not given any help. Even today mental health can be considered a taboo, but compared to the 19th century it is not as severe. I believe the reason that mental health seems to be a recent problem is because people used to be afraid of being locked up in asylums for seeking help. I believe the solution to our current “crisis” is to continue to be vigorous about mental health advocacy to undermine it.

– S.

“I think Social Media plays a Big Role …”

If I’m honest, I don’t believe I’ll ever live to the age of sixteen. Ever since I was a child I was constantly anxious, sleeping in my parents ’bed while thundering, crying because I was afraid to go to school, and missing a birthday party and so on because of my anxiety. As I began to age, depression came too. The last two years have been the worst of my life. I became [part of] the eighty -eight per cent [rise in] teenagers in the hospital for self-harm, I allowed myself to go on in such a way that it felt like the way I was doing life was not for me in a long time. I hid it from my family members with my severe eating disorder, which was a huge contribution to my negative mental health… Remembering this I wish I had done something, said a thing, but I actually found comfort in how. I feel horrible. Social media is also a major factor in how bad my mental health is, and how others feel, there’s no doubt about it. The social media platform, Tiktok is a bad place sometimes. I personally use it as therapy instead of going through “struggles” to tell someone the truth. It will show me videos about pro-anorexia, depression, and suicide thoughts. It makes me feel like I’m not alone when in fact it’s more damaging than I know…

– A.

Applications like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat are all platforms that create an online environment that is most user -friendly. Sometimes when we’re in a sad situation, we might want to scroll through TikTok or Instagram but what users don’t know is that they create an algorithm for their preferences. If they decide to listen to sad music, more sad music will be introduced to them and then it will be an endless cycle. Social media is also famous for promoting people with good body types and it can be very difficult for young people to go through physical changes in their adolescence. For me personally, I only scroll social media when I’m upset and, spoiler alert, it really doesn’t even help me get better. Social media has served our society many benefits but we need to know some of the hidden consequences of accessing the whole world at the click of a button.

– S.

We’ve been in a pandemic for 2 years now, and I feel that social media is the most important factor surrounding the mental health of teenagers. Endlessly scrolling through videos, not leaving the house, and comparing themselves to fake images can reduce their mental health and self-esteem. It can also cause fatigue, as many, like myself, tend to scroll through posts and watch videos from late at night until the early hours of the morning.

– T.

“Pandemic Makes a Major Mental Health Change.”

I see many different teenagers at my school, in stores or just in public who seem to be struggling with mental illness. The signs I saw were, sitting alone, not smiling, constantly depressed with their body language and facial language and their actions. Personally, I think the pandemic has made a huge difference in the mental health of teenagers. There is not much to do and it is harder to get along. Teenagers and children need socialization in their lives or they will become more depressed and they will no longer know how to communicate with people. I think teenagers today are more afraid to come and ask for help, so they live with this struggle every day and no one knows.

– B.

Many of my friends fell into deep depression during the pandemic, some of whom nearly attempted suicide. I would have said I was surprised at the rapid jump in self -injury and suicide rates but I wasn’t. Children are often told that they are the future, but little is done to make sure they really are in the future. I have to achieve mass education in mental health or I fear the problem will get worse.

– S.