Mental Health

by Laura Mayes

Despair. Destruction. Death. Within a moment your world can be completely turned on its axis – spiralling into a lonely, and sometimes deadly oblivion; desperately searching for an anchor, something to steady or slow your descent into the abyss.

Mental illness is defined as a condition which causes serious disorder in a person’s behaviour or thinking. Anxiety disorders (such as phobias, panic disorder, social anxiety) and depression are among the most prevalent, with an estimated ten percent of young people suffering from these alone. In fact, ChildTrends.org estimate that approximately one in five adolescents have a diagnosable mental health disorder. An average secondary school class, in the UK, has twenty-six pupils. Five of your childhood friends, students and children could be suffering in silence. In the twenty first century why do these people still slip unnoticed?

In the last ten years the amount of documented mental health cases has increased by 68% and, alongside it, so has our use of social media. Could there be a correlation? Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram – only a handful of the countless amounts of social media platforms. Every day we are greeted by new and harder standards of beauty that society condemns us to aspire to. Is it not to be expected that as our idea of a perfect body is warped by photoshopped models and celebrities that people will become more self-conscious, less confident and so develop a mental health disorder?

How can we be comfortable outside when we are constantly judged and compared to beauty standards that nobody can achieve naturally? Social media is a conduit for communication; twenty-four hours, seven days a week we can be online and connected to people worldwide. Whilst this brings huge advantages for commerce and social interactions this immediate and constant access has resulted in bullies being able to target their victims in what was traditionally their safe place: their home. Videos, messages, photos – the capacity for bullying has escalated and the pressure to conform to ‘be cool’ has undoubtedly assisted in the rise of mental health issues.

Eating disorders; bulimia and anorexia once the domain of teenage girls has now expanded to include both genders of all ages. Children as young as eight and nine are struggling with self-image issues perpetuated by the bombardment of pop videos, films, magazines and YouTube clips – that all attempt to promote their image of feminine and masculine perfection which is unrealistic and so dangerous. As a society allowing our impressionable young to be exposed to such images could we be accused of negligent behaviour?

So should we look for markers of mental health issues? There are small indicators that tell us the difference between what is considered normal growing issues (such as mood swings, tiredness and feeling out of control) and what is potentially a little more serious. If there’s a dramatic change in appetite (severe weight loss or gain), continual negative emotions (anger, irritability, sadness) and if there is a withdrawal from society then chances are that they are suffering the torment of a mental illness. But whose responsibility is it to look for these signs? Is it the parents? The schools? Or should it be a global responsibility? But in a world where self seems to be all consuming are we asking the impossible?

So why are people only beginning to take notice now? Is it because the strain on our national health and police is making headline news? We are finally being forced to open our eyes and acknowledge that mental health is very much real and has the potential to be destructive.