Mental health issues rise in teens

Throughout the teen population, mental health has become a worldwide problem. Anxiety and stress can affect a teenager’s daily lives, relationships with others and above all, physical health. An increasing number of teenagers walk around with a mental illness, and is undiagnosed. The rise of teen and young adults poor psychological well-being has increased dramatically throughout the past decade, therefore this growing problem in society desperately needs to be addressed and changed.

Mental health problems within the teen population have dramatically risen around the globe. Stress thrown onto students from teachers and homework assignments have gotten out of hand, and schools have recently witnessed the growing amount of anxiety within teen students.

These mental health conditions consist of major depressive disorder, anxiety and substance abuse disorders. The diagnosis of anxiety in teenagers has been the greatest mental health increase of the decade.

“Often times I feel like school can be the biggest stress factor for students. It is different for everybody, but witnessed teachers give extraordinary amounts of homework and students become very stressed and full of anxiety,” sophomore Camryn Hartwig explained. 

In 1990, students contained 22 percent less homework than the average teen student today. The amount of homework has become a very controversial topic throughout the decade, however this work load has kept piling on top of students. Teachers do not know how much homework is too much homework, therefore students anxiety and stress levels rise as the amount of homework rises.

Counselor Liz Nelson explained when she works with students who have anxiety or depression, maybe they do not have a diagnosis at all, but if she witnesses they have registered for too many rigorous courses, she will have a conversation with them about balance.

Despite the hefty amounts of homework and increasing anxiety levels, these factors help students manage time and good habits for years to come. Teachers are supplying students with a vigorous amount of homework to prepare teens for any job in the world today. Educators are helping students with study tools for years to come. Whether working for a large company or starting a business from scratch, teachers will prepare students. All teachers are helping students for any real world situation that will occur in the future however the mental health disorders are drastically rising throughout teenagers.

“If I get a ton of homework, I have to schedule my time around all of the extracurricular activities. Overall, I have had to learn how to manage my time to the best of my ability. Every five minutes I am doing something whether working on homework or playing sports,” junior Sydney Dejarnett explained.

The widespread health problem keeps growing throughout the teen population. Hartwig informed “college and high school” students are constantly affected by mental health disorders such as anxiety or depression.

These major problems will not subside unless impactful changes are discussed and made. Teachers need to create a manageable amount of work for students and a support system for the teens who suffer from any kind of mental health disorder. The rise of anxiety and depression within teens grow significantly every single day, and there needs to be a stop to this major worldwide issue.