Editor:
To give you some context, my name is Emma Way and I am a 15-year-old girl from Delta who struggles with mental health. I feel that it is not talked about enough. It took me ages to receive any help from adults for my mental health and it was draining. I am so glad that I was finally able to get assistance and I want that for more youth.
It’s time to stop suppressing our youth’s emotions. Mental illnesses are too overlooked in teens. They are often perceived as teen angst and it can be very harmful to a teen’s mindset. Opening up about something so personal and getting it put aside as “typical” teen behaviour can start to make teens feel like they're alone. It’s hard to open up when you feel like there’s no one to open up to. Youth sometimes turn to substances and violence as ways to cope and we need to check in on each other more to prevent struggling in silence.
Mental illnesses are more common than you think; one in five teens have a mental illness according to the Polaris Teen Center. Teen angst is a massive part of growing up, however, sometimes it can be seen as an excuse for underlying mental illness symptoms. By definition, angst is a feeling of anxiety about your life or situation. Almost every teen experiences teen angst as they grow up and mature, and it's “a part of the process”, but we cannot blame underlying issues on it. There is no medical description of teen angst, but there are for sure ways of distinguishing it from mental illnesses. For instance: the length of the behaviour and how intense these feelings are.
As well as being mistaken for other factors of life such as angst, mental illnesses are too often self-diagnosed. Many people on the internet and in real life self-diagnose themselves with mental illnesses, in some cases because they cannot afford a diagnosis. Diagnosis is definitely a privilege that not many can afford and that’s a bigger issue. Struggling in silence is something that can ruin someone’s mental health as a whole and make someone lose hope for getting help in the future. However, self-diagnosis is incredibly harmful towards the stigma around mental illness because it can paint an image of fake, exaggerated symptoms as mental illnesses.
Being sad is not depression, mood swings are not bipolar, being shaky is not anxiety, and so on. You can only receive proper help when you have a diagnosis and we as a society need to make getting a diagnosis and talking about our mental health more accessible to teens, and people in general. Shockingly, only one in five teens with a mental illness are diagnosed. This means that four out of five youth suffer in silence and are unable to receive help and manage their mental illness as stated by the Canadian Mental Health Association.
Due to many teens not being able to get the support they need, many turn to substances, such as alcohol and drugs.
“It’s like an escape from their reality,” said Karen Shimonek, a youth mental health counsellor that I spoke with.
As well as substance abuse, many teens turn to violent acts towards others, or themselves. Some individuals who are struggling may turn to hurting someone else, inflicting their pain and suffering on someone else, or they may harm themselves. Substance abuse and self-harm are very similar in a way; it makes its user feel something, feel high, euphoric, to feel numb. This is a very harmful thing for a teen to do because it can result in life-long consequences. Self-harm and substances such as drugs and alcohol are addictive and very hard to get out of especially if you’re already struggling with a mental illness.
“Mental illnesses and the medication you take for them have a stigma surrounding them and there’s no reason for it. Taking antidepressants for depression is similar to taking insulin for diabetes,” she added. “There is no way to entirely remove the stigma surrounding it, however our best option is to relate it to things we all experience daily.”
As Shimonek said, we cannot remove the stigma, but we can fight it whether or not we have a mental illness.
As a teenager, I have also struggled with my mental health. I truly felt like there was no one to reach out to until I told my mother, it was refreshing to express what I felt. Not everyone can have that same experience I had, however do not fret. There are many sources and people online and in person that would be glad to talk about mental health.
It is okay to not be “okay”. You are not alone; it’s okay to have a mental illness. There is a lot of stigma around mental illness but we as a society have to support each other and remind ourselves and others that it will get better. There are many ways to get support if you are struggling alone. Speaking out about your experiences, your thoughts, and feelings is not equivalent to being overly sensitive, or weak, or anything of the sort. On the contrary, speaking out about your mental health, feelings, and experiences is courageous and ultimately will break down the stigma surrounding mental illness. You need to check in on your friends and family regardless of whether they’re showing symptoms. We are all in this together.
Emma Way
