When you go to the doctor, you’re probably thinking about your physical health, and that is the main thing the doctor will probably check. Is your body working properly? Is your leg about to fall off? But the doctor may also ask a few questions relating to mental health. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make healthy choices.” Basically, having good mental health is important to be able to thrive in all areas of life.
Looking at the CDC graph, it is easy to see that the number of people with mental health causing problems in their lives was going up before the pandemic. The statistics from the graph are from the UK, but what it says isn’t unique to the UK. In a 2022 article, the New York Times said that between the years 2001 and 2019, the suicide rate for American youth ages 10-19 rose 40%, and ER visits due to self-harm rose by 88%. The pandemic really only hit the US in early 2020, so the fact that more people were experiencing mental health trouble even before the pandemic hit, isn’t great when there is a global pandemic around the corner. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 1 in 7 10-19 year-olds experience a mental health disorder globally. When COVID hit in 2020, it only exacerbated the problem of mental health worldwide.
Teens these days have a lot on their minds, and there is a lot that could cause mental health problems for them. The CDC says that in 2019, approximately 1 in 6 youth reported making a suicide plan in the past year, an increase of 44% since 2009. That’s almost double the number of troubled youths trying to end their lives than just a decade ago. The CDC also reports that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and female youth report having more symptoms of depression, sadness, or hopelessness than heterosexual and male youth. The good news is that when youths feel more connected to their school, friends, and family, there are fewer feelings of depression, sadness, and hopelessness.
But teens aren’t the only ones struggling. The CDC says that in 2021, 4.7% of people aged 18 and over felt depressed regularly, and 11.7% of people aged 18 and over regularly felt anxiety, nervousness, or worry. Statistics according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) say that 1 in 5 US adults experience mental illness each year, 1 in 6 US youth aged 6-17 experience mental health disorders each year, and that suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death among people aged 10-34. That’s a lot of people experiencing mental health troubles.
So, are we in a state of crisis when it comes to teen mental health? Yes. But we’re also in a state of crisis when it comes to mental health for all people. Some groups of people are more affected than others by mental health, and that just means we need to spend a little more time taking care of those groups of people who are more affected. As a society, we need to de-stigmatize mental health, and start taking care of our friends, family, and fellow citizens of this world.
CDC graph:
Sources:
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/mental-health.htm
https://nami.org/mhstats
https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/mental-health/index.htm
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/adolescent-mental-health
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/05/learning/is-teen-mental-health-in-a-state-of-crisis.html
https://www.cdc.gov/mentalhealth/learn/
https://www.cdc.gov/library/covid19/images/731_4.png
Interesting article. I think there is more you could say, though, on how we can improve the problem.
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ReplyDeleteA lot of attention is brought to teen mental health with a lot of credible sources. This is a pretty interesting article, but I agree with Milky. A lot of the post is mostly about providing a basis, but there isn't a lot of talk about fixing the problem. It's still a very intriguing topic.
I find it interesting that mental health was getting worse even before the pandemic, as I was not aware with that. I learned a bit of new information by reading this blog post, but I do agree with Leo and Milky's comments. This blog post provides a lot of statistics, but I think it would be helpful to have information on what can be done to improve mental health.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting blog which gives some interesting information that the general public isn't aware of, like how mental health was decreasing een before the pandemic. I agree with everyone else that it would be helpful to have information on how we can fix this issue but this blog does a really good job of stating and explaining the problem, good job!
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