Trigger Warning (TW): mental health issues
Recently, the amount of students who suffer from mental health issues has been increasing significantly especially from this pandemic situation. From the year 2019 to 2020, 27 percent of college students in the US have been diagnosed with anxiety disorder/depression or another mood disorder. Here is a graph according to CDC 2019 (Children for Disease Control and Prevention) about childhood mental health statistics in 2019 from age 3-17:
Common mental health issues faced by teenagers
anxiety: social anxiety, generalised anxiety disorder, panic disorder, phobias
eating disorder: anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder.
stress: academic pressure, body changes, negative thoughts, family matter, environment
Causes of mental health issues to the youths:
school stress
family
trauma (emotional, sexual, or physical abuse)
surroundings
● Things we can do to help/support
Be there for them! : listen and do not make any judgment when they talk to you, keep the conversations open-ended.
Therapy: you can do therapy with family or therapist
Give them time to talk as much as they can, DON'T FORCE THEM!
Know your limits
(When) do you know the right time
There is no such time as the right time, we can help them simply by listening to them and comfort them but if the person can’t cope with it anymore, it is better to ask for professional help.
INDONESIA SUICIDE PREVENTION HOTLINE 021 500 454 or 119 EXT 8
Sources:
Chart from the CDC
Cover Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash