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Sometimes teens are afraid to talk about stuff because they are afraid that people will think they are crazy. That’s because mental illness is still feared and misunderstood by many people. The sad thing is this prevents them from finding out how common and normal their struggles are. Even sadder, it means that when people are actually experiencing a mental illness it prevents them from receiving the kinds of help that will allow them to get better. On this site we talk about both “mental illness”
and “mental health problems”. There’s a difference
between the two. When we say mental illness, we mean a diagnosable
condition, like Bipolar Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
(OCD), or Schizophrenia, that usually requires medical treatment.
“Mental health problems” refers to the more common struggles
and difficulties that affect everybody from time to time. Teens
experiencing these types of problems may not require medical treatment,
but can still benefit from some of the help and support that we
talk about on this site. If you want more information about the differences between the normal ups and downs of being a teen, and some of the most common mental illnesses that affect youth, take a look at these cool resources that were produced by and for young people. Download in pdf format: Teenagers often worry that they may be ‘going crazy” when they are feeling stressed, confused or very upset. In fact, feelings like these are only rarely a sign of mental illness. Usually, they get a lot better if you talk about them to someone you trust. Mental illness is far less common than mental health problems are, but still more common than you might think. As many as one in five teenagers have experienced a major mental disorder, so chances are that you or someone you know will have a mental illness if they haven’t already. |
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