Mental Health is considered a very touchy subject for everyone that has dealt with mental health issues personally and with a family member or friend who is experiencing this. Even though there is still a lot of work to be done with how we go about mental health and eliminate all the stereotypes. Today still is a lot better than how it was back in the day even 10-20 years ago which does not seem that far away, we have made huge leaps in getting to the point where we all acknowledge mental health as a serious issue.
Poor mental health can cause many issues in a person’s life, depression is known to be one of the biggest. It can cause mood disorders, eating disorders, not being able to sleep, and anxiety. Young people have tough issues with this, the rise of depression has been affecting our youth tremendously. “The study looked at data from more than 200,000 adolescents aged 12-17 and nearly 400,000 young adults aged 18 and over from 2005 to 2017. During that time, reported symptoms consistent with major depression increased by 52% among the teens and 63% among the young adults. Girls were especially at risk, with one in five teenage girls having experienced major depression in 2017. In addition, by 2017, nearly three-quarters of young adults had experienced feelings of hopelessness about their lives.” These rapid increases in the youth are causing them to feel the side effects of poor mental health. Doctors and medical professionals are urging people of all ages to be aware of how serious poor mental health and depression is. People need to be better educate on what the side effects are and how to help a loved one or friend.
Years ago, people did not acknowledge Mental Health as an illness, even doctors did not test children for depression till they were older. Because they believed they were too young to have depression, and that their brains weren’t developed enough. This rise is catching so many eyes in the medical field that they are now looking at social media platforms and the rise of technology as a cause. Almost all teens have access to these platforms some of which are Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Groupme and FaceBook. Kids today look at these social media personalities and compare themselves to unrealistic goals in life and causes them to overthink life as a whole.
Me personally I have never felt this way but I know one of my cousins who deals with this daily. She has an eating disorder and sometimes will stay silent basically for days. Her parents never truly realized what was happening to their daughter and just assumed it was a phase in her life. But in reality, our parents’ generation never had to deal with the ramifications of social media, cyber bullying or anything of that nature.
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