People aren’t aware of how mental illness affects young people by Maegan Willson

Kids and teenagers are constantly changing. They grow up quickly and before you know it, that giggly, energetic toddler is a teenager who sleeps ‘til noon. As we grow it’s normal to experience changes but with all the changes going on, how can we tell which ones are actually normal? At what point should parents start worrying that their teenager's “mood swings” are just “growing pains” or “hormones”? It can be hard to tell. The truth is, for many teens, these changes aren’t just part of growing up. These changes are symptoms of mental illness.

Mental illness can be disruptive to a teenager’s normal development that can affect them for the rest of their lives. The most common include anxiety disorders, anorexia, bulimia and depression.

Around 15% of teenagers experience depression. It can affect attitudes and emotions, making teens feel sad or irritated. It causes people to experience low mood, loss of interest, feelings of guilt or low self-worth, disturbed sleep or appetite, low energy, and poor concentration.

Anxiety disorders. 10% of young people suffer from an anxiety disorder such as anxiety itself, OCD and/or PTSD. When suffering from one of these you can experience dizziness and light-headedness. Anxiety disorders can cause rapid heart rate, palpitations, and chest pain. You may also be at an increased risk of high blood pressure and heart disease.

Around 8% of young people are diagnosed with ADHD. It can make it very difficult to focus and pay attention. It can contribute to a variety of health problems, including compulsive eating, substance abuse, anxiety, chronic stress and tension, and low self-esteem.

Around 4% of teenagers suffer from either anorexia or bulimia. Anorexia can cause infertility, the shutdown of major body systems, brain damage, heart attacks and even death. Bulimia can also cause high blood pressure, severe headaches, seizures, and fatigue. Bulimia damages the nerves that signal to your brain that your stomach is full.

Anyone can become a victim to the trap of mental illness. However, there are multiple factors that put you at a higher risk of experiencing mental illness compared to others. For example, physical problems such as disease and injury, LGBTQ+ youth, young people who have witnessed drama or who have just gone through a major change in life and people with a family history of mental illness.

Now, after reading the previous part of this article you may be questioning if your teenager is one of those unfortunate souls who have fallen into the mental illness trap.

Here are some signs: sudden change in behaviour, sudden change in feelings, avoiding places or situations they don’t usually, suddenly started keeping to themselves, showing little regard for the property or feelings of others, change in appetite and change in sleep schedule.

But how do you, a worried parent, approach this topic with your teenager? It’s such a sensitive topic. How do you get them to talk to you? Well, if they don’t want to talk about it, don’t force them. If you do force them, it could encourage them to not want to talk about it in the future. Just offer them your unconditional love and tell them that if they need you then you’re there. You could help by setting up therapy sessions which will help you get to the bottom of it quicker. Maybe introduce something where your teen can say something to you indirectly, for example a “feelings box” where they write their feelings on a piece of paper and put it in the box. You can read it and when they’re ready you can talk about it.

Mental illness is a serious topic, not just for young children or adults. The stress levels experienced by teenagers today are the same of that as 1950s mental asylum patients. It’s not something you can just brush off as just a “moody teenager” or brush it off that certain genders act certain ways. This is something that needs to be taken seriously and if we don’t, it’ll get to a point where teenagers think mental illness is normal and something they have to experience - which isn’t fair to anyone. Not men or women, boys or girls, adults or children. So why should it be fair to teens?

Maegan Willson