I’ve read different statistics, so I don’t really know how accurate this is.  I have also read:

• 20% of adolescents have admitted to considering suicide.
• 1,952 adolescents committed suicide in 2021, which was 18.6% of deaths for the 15-19 age category.
• 28% have received mental health treatment with boys being less likely to seek help.
• 1 in 7 adolescents (10-19 years old) experiences a mental disorder.
• Anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and ADHD are the most common mental health disorders in adolescents.

I can keep spewing stats out here, but I wanted to say something else that has been on my mind for a while.  It’s about how people respond to teenagers having emotional and mental health issues.  We’d like to think it’s always taken seriously, but I’ve been seeing how that’s not the case.  It’s rather disheartening.

You see, people have this idea that puberty makes teenagers highly unstable, but in a way that doesn’t gain any concern.  These issues are just phases or the teen is merely being overly dramatic for attention.  Adults will ignore warning signs until harm is done by or to the teen.  For example, depression and anxiety flags can be shrugged of as shyness or being overreactive to any situation.  Nothing is done until the student attempts suicide, attacks someone, or begins cutting.  That’s when many adults take action, but it’s really late in the game.

Mental health disorders are dangerous and many have a downward spiral effect.  Similar to cancer, it’s best to catch it early and get the teenagers help.  This requires taking them seriously and being available to talk without pushing too hard.  It means we have to stop telling boys that they shouldn’t cry, ignore their feelings, or that they are only important if someone finds them useful.  Things like this is why boys are more susceptible to suicide than girls because they meet a lot of resistance towards showing their emotions.  Again, it results in things brewing until they explode.

It’s disheartening to see how people and even society as a whole ignore these problems unless a news-worthy event occurs.  We hear about it for a bit after school shootings and other horrific events, but then it fades back into the ether.  People go back to rolling their eyes at teenagers stressing over dating, tests, college, feelings, and sports.  Many think these things are trivial because they’ve already gone through that stage of life, so they forget how stressful teen years can be.  They need a tragedy to jog their memories even a little bit, but things are too late by then.  If a struggling teenager gets help after the final hour, they’ll become an adult who has to hold down a job or college program while facing a mental disorder with minimal help.  At least in the USA, insurance companies don’t always cover mental health, so teen years are probably the best to tackle these things since you have school resources.

Anyway, this is mostly a messy rant in response to seeing so many people shrug off the mental struggles of teenagers.  They’re human just like adults, so why shouldn’t their problems get the same level of seriousness?