Lincoln News

Mental Health Awareness

Jacqueline Moncada, Reporter|April 29, 2016

Do you ever feel alone and helpless? Do you know someone that has to deal with personal issues all by themselves?

On Monday, April 25th in the Media Center, a group of some of Lincoln students spoke about Mental Health Awareness. Anna Ortiz, Murillo, Alex, Katie, Lynzie, Alyana, Tigerlily, Ezra, Monica, Joseph, Yasmeen, and their advisor Ms. Borja are involved in a school club known as, “Help and Healing,” which has positively helped this group of kids tremendously. They thought that creating such a club would help “to create a safe and positive community that spreads mental health awareness.” They hope to create a movement of hope and healing.

Some of the issues include:

ADHD

Anxiety

Depression

PTSD

Bipolar Disorder

ADHD, also known as Attention Deficit Disorder, cannot be cured, and can last several years to a lifetime. They described it as a tendency to easily lose your focus on any type of activity that you can come across on a daily basis, which can come to be a big obstacle during school. Thirty percent of children also have an anxiety disorder along with ADHD, and seventy percent that have ADHD are also treated with depression.

Anxiety disorders are highly treatable, but only about one third of those suffering receive treatment. The feeling of anxiety was described as the feeling of “being trapped inside your own body, with no way to escape.” Anxiety is the most common form of mental illness in the U.S. About ten percent of teens and forty percent adults suffer from it.

Depression was one of the major ones that people tend to overlook because sometimes the symptoms may not be as visible for others, however approximately twenty percent of teens will experience depression before they reach adulthood. About ten to fifteen percent of teens have symptoms of it at any one point in time. Several things come having depression, some not as severe as others:

Running Away
Substance Abuse
Problems at School
Low Self Esteem
Eating disorders
Internet Addiction
Violence Suicide ideation/attempts
Reckless Behavior
Self-Injury

Self-injury was also something widely talked about. Some people tend to turn to self harm for self assurance. One big mistake others might assume is that self harm is only physical, however the students stressed the fact that it does not only exist through existing physical evidence, but it can be emotional as well. They even mentioned some examples over how to deal with friends that may be experiencing similar situations. They said it was a good idea to listen out to what your friends have to say, because sometimes they may reach a point where they may want to end it, by committing suicide. They’ll most often feel like that once they feel like they have no one to turn to, even if they have tried multiple times before.

PTSD(Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) is a long lasting result of a traumatic event that can cause fear, helplessness, and/or horror. Some symptoms might include flashbacks, nightmares, and anxiety. There are treatments however, such as psychotherapy along with other medications to manage anxiety and depression due to the trauma.

Bipolar disorder is a mental illness which causes mood swings of emotional highs(mania or hypomania) and lows(depression). Nearly six million people have it, and they usually develop it in their early adulthood. Most people may have issues with it within their social life and it can develop into something worse, although it is not treatable because of the range of symptoms people may encounter.

A few students also shared some of their personal experiences involving such issues, and they encouraged all students to make a difference by either raising awareness, or if they experience any of these symptoms, to reach out to someone for help. Ana Ortiz spoke about ways to get your mind off any possible self- harm.