Dear mental health community,
As addressed in "An Open Letter To the World's Children" by Henrietta Fore “We must make it ok to talk about mental health” Henrietta then explains her reason behind this comment stating “one that reminds us of the invisible vulnerability that young people still carry inside of them. Mental health disorders among those under 18s have been rising steadily over the past 30 years and depression is now among the leading causes of disability in the young”. Maybe it's the fact that mental health issues won’t ever fully go away that makes us afraid of the world around us, that makes us afraid of even talking about our mental health. There are many facts out there that can confirm this fear. In the following years, mental health disorders have risen a lot, according to the statistics “Nationally: In 2020, 21% of U.S. adults (52.9 million) experienced a mental health condition. Worldwide: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of anxiety and depressive disorders grew. Depressive symptoms grew from a base of about 193 million people worldwide to 246 million, which is about 28%.” From Mental Health Statistics And Facts In 2023 (Lizzie Duszynski-Goodman, P. 2). Duszynski-Goodman’s article on statistics of mental health shows when mental health issues have gotten worse, such as when the COVID-19 pandemic happened lives were destroyed and people didn’t get out of the house much-causing depression and changing people to become anti-social because of the “social separation and isolation due to the restrictive measures” caused by the pandemic, (Stefan Harsanyl, p.1) “Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health, anxiety, and depression”. This is only one version of pain that causes mental health issues, there are many more categories of pain such as; physical, mental, psychological, and emotional pain plus more.Maybe what we read about teenagers is true, maybe it’s false. Or maybe some teenagers are those wild kids that are also antisocial and “druggies”, but assuming these things about teenagers sometimes cause them to grow up like that. Maybe they are amiable, lovely educated kids who need the help everyone needs in life, like a guide to get through your young years and to adulthood, some need more help than others but we all need that little push or guide in the right direction. While many kids/teenagers have this guide, many also don’t and struggle hard with school and keeping up with what should and shouldn’t be done. According to Henrietta “Depression is now among the leading causes of disability in the young.” caused by many types of abuse or pain, and in teenagers, this can also be their overthinking that can cause depression. Therefore “we must make it okay to talk about mental health” and we must keep guiding our teenagers through life, knowing they are still vulnerable to the hardships life puts on them. Eventually, we learn how to get through these events by ourselves or ask for help from our loved ones such as family, friends, or even our life partners. As a teenager, we struggle to ask for help because we want to be those independent people we believe we should be, but to ask for help doesn’t exactly mean we aren't independent, even the most independent people need help at some point in their life. Duszynski-Goodman, L. (2023, September 29). Mental Health Statistics And Facts In 2023. Forbes Health.
https://www.forbes.com/health/mind/mental-health-statistics/#:~:text=Nationally%3A%20In%202020%2C%2021%25,%2C%20which%20is%20about%2028%25. An open letter to the world’s children. (n.d.-b). UNICEF. https://www.unicef.org/child-rights-convention/open-letter-to-worlds-children Kupcova, I., Danisovic, L., Klein, M., & Harsanyi, S. (2023, April 11). Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on Mental Health, anxiety, and Depression. BMC psychology. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10088605/#:~:text=Morbidity%20and%20mortality%20of%20COVID,prevalence%20increased%20by%2025%25%20globally.