Why mental health matters

Now more than ever it is important to recognize mental health and advocate for mental wellness. In teenagers alone, suicide has increased greatly with the increased use of social media that can be used as weapon towards the destruction of self-esteem, and cause detrimental effects the more that it is used. As children grow up, they are given more opportunities, whether that for jobs, volunteering, or anything else that they may be interested in. The pressure of juggling an increase in schoolwork with said aspects and sports or extracurriculars that look good on college applications starts to become a burden and stress teenagers out, which then can lead to mental illnesses.  In addition to jobs, family dynamics are ever changing and the rate of teenagers with divorced parents and single parent homes have had a steady increase since 2017. According to the CDC, there has been a 31% increase in suicides in 2020 from 2019. A study from the Mayo Clinic showed that 6,500 15 year olds in the US who use social media for three hours or more a day have a higher risk of a mental illness. From the CDC, depression and anxiety has become more common amongst 12-17 year olds since 2011.  Since 2019, there has been a close to 50% increase in all mental illnesses from the ages of 12-17, without discrimination towards ethnicity, language, religion, or gender.  

Mental health should be just as important to you as it is to me, because without the recognition of mental health there is no way to decrease the stigma around mental health. Mental health stigma is a lack of understanding of mental illness from ignorance or misinformation, and also because some people have negative attitudes or beliefs towards it. This can lead to discrimination against people with mental illness. Dealing with the effects of prejudice and discrimination from being stigmatized is distressing and can exacerbate mental illnesses. This can be harder than dealing with the illness itself. People with mental illness may also take on board the prejudiced views held by others, which can affect their self esteem. Some cultures have an inbuilt stigma against mental health issues, and this can make it difficult for a person to seek and get help and may give rise to shame they may feel. Without the decrease of stigma, those who need someone there to support them may feel as though there is no one to support them and no one should have to go through that. 

It is my hope that this website can help someone learn more about mental health and mental wellness all the same. By taking the time to learn, I hope that we as a community can move forward to decrease the stigma around talking about mental health. 

Megan Barker Juliette 617859