By Neesa Vang
Mental health is defined as a person’s condition with regard to their psychological and emotional well-being according to Lexico. As a teenager, stress is such an overload with school, a part-time job, extracurriculars and many life changes all in session, at once. Mental health is just as important as physical health, and people differ on how to deal with hard times. A person’s mental state should always be in the green.
It’s okay to have a bad day. It happens, from time to time someone might not be feeling the happiest or the most positive. This is normal, and overall mental health can still be good at the end of the bad day. However, if one often feels either continuously sad, unhappy or any type of negative feeling, their personal mental state may need some work. That is okay though, not being okay is okay. Society has been known to never really talked about mental health awareness even though it is affecting the well-being of so many, especially teens. According to Teen Mental Health, one in five children, teens and young adults have a mental illness. Some common ones include anxiety disorders, depression, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, personality disorders and psychotic disorders. There isn’t a “cure,” but many treatments exist that may help such as therapy, prescription drugs and interventions. These treatments and solutions are not unfortunate, sometimes humans just need help. Keep in mind, close to sixty percent of the country who has or had a mental illness went untreated, says National Alliance on Mental Health. Treated or untreated, many go through battles mentally and emotionally.
A person shouldn’t have to experience these negative feelings all the time. If feeling this way though, talk about it. Know that feelings are temporary and people are not meant to feel this way. Voice oneself out, yes it can be weird or scary, but find someone trustworthy to talk to and who won’t judge. This trusted person could be a friend, partner, sibling, cousin, teacher, counselor, social worker or anyone trustworthy. Asking for help is something nobody should ever be ashamed about or regret.
If someone talks about how they feel, try to be there. Lots of people just need someone to make one feel cared for and a set of listening ears. Don’t burden oneself with other people’s problems in addition to one’s own. If a person needs more help than what one can do. Tell a trusted adult. If someone doesn’t want to tell an adult in person, they can go to Safe Voice. It is an anonymous reporting site, and all someone has to do is use their voice to describe what is happening. There is a mobile app and it’s a public resource for all Nevada students. Life is too short to feel unhappy all the time.
