Mental Health in High School Essay Example

In America around 50.6 percent of mental health issues in youth go untreated. School performance and drop out rates can both be affected by mental health in youth. Mental health and therapy rates have grown immensely through the years. Learning how to help students who may be suffering is important and every school should know how. Depression and anxiety has become profound in highschools, many students have become so stressed out they have stopped trying all together. Mental health affects many high schoolers in many different aspects of their life.  

Mental health issues in school can negatively impact a students grades and overall behavior at school. According to the CDC, "More than 1 in 3 high school students had experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness in 2019, a 40 percent increase since 2009"( Mental Health Par 2). Depression and anxiety can affect behavior in the classroom, outbursts, or the opposite effect of dissociation can happen. Students with mental health issues are also likely to do worse on tests due to worsening memory. It is found that high anxiety levels can worsen IQ and achievement test scores. Anxiety and depression are serious issues that can hold students back in the long run.  

In 2020 anxiety and depression grew immensely, more people got educated on it and more people got help. According to the Mental Health America website, the state with the worst mental health issues is Nevada. Even though  the state with the least mental health issues is Vermont, Vermont also has the worst substance abuse issues. 59. 6 percent of youth in America did not receive help for their mental health issues in 2021. Mental health issues that aren't treated in youth are more likely to worsen into adulthood. It is better to treat mental health issues while they are the easiest to treat, than later when the consequences can be more severe. The growth of mental health issues is catastrophic in the youth of America.  

Students mental health can not only affect performance in school, many highschoolers with bad mental health end up dropping out before they graduate. According to Psychology Today, around 7,000 students drop out of school every day meaning around 1. 2 million students drop out every school year. Out of the students who drop out every year over 20 percent reported that it was due to anxiety or depression. Students who drop out due to mental health often don't even have the opportunity to get help, and it could end up derailing all their life plans. After dropping out of school it is hard to recover from the time you lost. Leaving school for any reason makes it hard to come back to school again, but leaving due to mental health problems can make it even harder. You need to get help with your mental health problems before you can even attempt to try and continue your education. Dropping out is extreme but in certain situations it's all anyone can do, if they are not able to reach out for help.