Mental Health, Suicide and Overall Wellbeing Research Paper

📌Category: Health, Mental health, Social Issues, Suicide
📌Words: 1539
📌Pages: 6
📌Published: 24 June 2021

According to The National Institute of Mental Health, in 2018 there were a whopping 18,830 homicides in the United States. That is devastating! However, what is hard to believe is that there were over double the number of suicides with 48,344, only in the United States. I don’t want to talk about this lightly, because it is a sensitive subject but I do want to raise awareness and come up with a way to help reduce those numbers. Those numbers aren’t made up as they come from The National Institute of Mental Health whose name brings me to my next point. Boston’s Children’s Hospital has claimed that research shows 90 percent of people who have passed away from suicide were battling a mental illness. John Hopkins Medicine, whose school is coveted by many medicine seeking students, claims that “an estimated 26% of Americans ages 18 and older -- about 1 in 4 adults -- suffers from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year.” These statistics basically scream to me as I read them one of the best ways to decrease the number of suicides: Address the problem and possible solutions on raising awareness to mental health. I’m just a college student with little effect on the population as a whole, which is why I’m talking to the ones who do have a big impact: Teachers and Parents. Making suicide and mental health an open topic in schools and in homes we can face this problem head on. 

To start off addressing mental health I think we can all agree that there is quite the stigma on it nowadays. From my personal experiences I think there are two thing I notice when it comes to the problems of addressing mental health. First, there is a lot of belief that “sucking it up” will be the answer to all of the problems. Yes, being tough and having thick skin can help but a man or woman with a broken arm needs professional, medical attention. Just as if someone who is struggling with mental health should seek help from someone they trust or someone who specializes in mental health. Second, there’s a lot of stigmas about not talking about what someone is going through especially if it’s a mental illness they’re battling. However, that’s just an opinion. In a study done by a Psychiatry unit based in Europe provided us with some facts. Jerika Radez, et al. relay from the results of their experiment, “The vast majority of studies (76% of studies) reported barriers related to perceived stigma and young people’s experienced and/or anticipated embarrassment as a consequence of negative public attitudes, and these barriers were usually reported by a high percentage of young people within studies.” Let me make a bold statement. If we reduce the stigma of being closed off about talking about mental illness, then overall health will get better and the number of suicides will decrease. We as a society have got to open up and face this head on. As we open up, we will have more ideas and more movements that will help us progress together on increasing awareness of mental health. Especially if we open up within our homes and in our schools. Teachers and parents must start teaching and informing their kids and students about mental health so that we as a society can reduce stigma about mental health and make it normal to talk about how we are feeling. 

“Opening up” is a very vague term so let me break it down into a couple of components. When we mention opening up, I want us to think of two specific things: Talking to someone who can be trusted, and being a trustworthy person whom someone can come and talk to if they are struggling. If we base all of our steps off of these two things, I believe that we will make a lot of much needed progress. Talking is important because a lot of the time stressors we have get blown out of proportion when we sit and dwell our thoughts on them. Irrational worries tend to seem like the unwanted reality and the facts of life tend to be warped when struggling with a mental illness. As we talk, with the help of others we are able to rationalize what is real and what is not. This can be helpful for small or big crises. This past year with the Covid-19 pandemic we know just how much a big crisis can affect our mental health. Amanda Shamblaw, who is a part of a team at the Canadian Psychology Association, conducted research on this worldwide pandemic and the effect it had on mental health. Amanda and her team state, “Rates of depression and anxiety are significantly higher than reported rates prior to the pandemic.” This would make sense as everyone’s life was basically put on hold. With that, a statement that Amanda et al. make is “Distraction and acceptance were the most commonly used coping strategies”, but with our lives put on hold distraction was one thing that was not easy. This research helps us understand just how fragile mental health can be. Going back to the analogy with the man seeking help with a broken arm compared to a man seeking help with a mental illness, causing/developing this injury/illness can happen with no warning. Our minds are as fragile, if not more fragile, than our bodies. Which is why addressing mental health and making it be a social norm is so important. 

Another aspect that talking to others and getting rid of irrational thoughts that is important is the fact that sometimes we don’t know if we need help until someone else tells us we do. What may seem like normal to the one with a mental illness can be flagged by someone on the other end of the phone. Our thoughts and feelings get blown out of proportion. Not only will opening up and reaching out help with the irrational things you are feeling, but doing so will actually help with quite a few more things. A Healthier Michigan posted an article called “The Importance of Speaking Up About Your Mental Health Struggles”. In this article they help us by providing three things that talking to others will benefit. First, as we have discussed previously, opening up will help reduce stigma. The more people who raise their hand and claim they’ve experienced a mental illness will help us make it normal to talk about. We just need to break the ice. Second, going along with the first one, is that we will find there are power in numbers. As one person takes the first step in opening up, someone else may get the spark of courage and open up as well. The third point is as we open up we will feel heard and it will reduce the anxiety we feel. The human’s natural response to stress due the stigma is to bury it deep down and tell no one, but this does more harm than good. 

However, there is a problem we face as we try to make our mental health an open topic; there are personal experiences which cause a person high amounts of distress that need to be kept private. As we attempt to make less of a stigma and talk about opening up, we aren’t talking about sharing all of our private details with everyone we see. Obviously, there are parts of people’s lives where they don’t want to be shared but addressing it is what’s going to help us be better about talking about it and reducing the stigma that mental health has. This is why finding trust worthy people, and being a trustworthy person is so important. However, opening up does not only have to do with opening up about what we are going through, but how we are feeling. So, things about someone’s life that is personal and would rather not be shared do not have to be. Just talking about the way that thing is making them feel can help a ton as it will help you connect to someone else and help you rationalize what you are feeling. 

In conclusion, the number of people suffering with mental health issues is increasing every single day but this dilemma can be slowed. Not only can mental illnesses be slowed down but the number of suicides can start decreasing. We all have a part in this as a society to help decrease the stigma by opening up and being honest with ourselves and our peers. However, there are specific groups of people that have a large impact on our society and those are parents, families, and teachers. Parents can help their children understand that it’s ok to be struggling, and that it doesn’t need to be something they have to hide. Teachers can help teach their students why we feel certain things and what it is we can do to reach out for help. As friends and family, we can uplift and support others. We can reach out to the ones we trust and be that someone that can be reached out to. It’s safe to say that there is a problem. If about one in every four people just in America suffer a mental illness every year, chances are someone we know or we ourselves are struggling with one. We ask teachers and parents help us reduce the stigma on mental health. Help us open up as a society and make it normal to talk about how we are feeling and talk about mental illnesses. Help us make known this dilemma of mental health in public schools and within the homes. As a society we can provide help to the ones that really need it. Help the ones who would’ve faced their mental illness by ending their life, reach out for help instead. We can make a difference. You can make a difference.

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