The odds of someone winning the lottery are about 1 in 175 million. And if this person wants to start a family, well, they have a 1 in 30 chance of having twins. Regardless if this family has twins or not, the odds that the child will be left-handed is 1 in 10. Thinking like this, in an average classroom of 30 kids, 3 of them would be left-handed. 24 of these students will continue to live “normal”, “ideal” lives. 6 of these students will be ignored and overlooked for who they really are. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 1 in 5 adolescents suffer from a mental disorder.  It has come to my attention that the acknowledgment of these children and the overall awareness of mental disorders is nowhere near where it needs to be. I believe if we could bring better attention to these disorders and students with them, rather than disregarding who they are, then we could strive to help and be better informed on the true, real life problems our adolescents face.

There are some who argue that mental illness is nothing but a hoax. That anxiety or depression are just terms moody teenagers label themselves as to verify their out of control emotions. Because they believe that when a teen is struggling through life, claiming they have no control of their mind or emotions, when they’re trying their best to overcome their own issues and need a little extra support, that the best advice to give them is, “It’s all in your head. Get over it.” Tony Hughes-d’Aeth, author of Paper Nation: The Story of the Picturesque Atlas of Australasia, describes his account of depression as classified to him by medically trained doctors “the state in which my will to live had been exhausted.” That it “exists mainly in the terrain between and beyond the reach of words.” Get over it. Jamie Beggs, from her novel Inner Journey: Learning to live with bipolar disorder, says, “I found that my thoughts had become disconnected and I had the perception of hearing voices. I was becoming restless as I found myself experiencing what was later described to me as a psychotic episode.” Get over it. Dr. Eric Achtyes, a researcher and staff psychiatrist at Pine Rest and Touchstone Innovare claims, “One prominent hypothesis is that an imbalance of certain neurotransmitters in the brain can contribute to mental illness. Some people inherit a vulnerability to develop a certain type of brain chemical imbalance leading to their symptoms. So that vulnerability is always going to be there and that’s going to put folks at risk for recurrent bouts of these brain chemical imbalances.” This is not something you can “get over”.

Now, one of the big questions of this controversial topic is, “How does this affect me?” Society today has a tendency to be very “self-centered”. If it isn’t happening to themselves or where they are, it shouldn’t matter. But, as they have developed this arrogant cloud around their minds, they have failed to notice the issues their own country is facing. Mental Health of America states that suicide is the eighth leading cause of death in the United States. The odds that someone with mental illness will commit suicide? 9 out of 10. Don’t you see? If people were more informed about mental illness rather than obscuring the obvious, there would be more opportunities for recovery, there would be more hope. When asked what helped her through her time of struggle, Michelle Hayes, a member of the SCDMH Recovery Steering Committee says it was her treatment team. They were able to understand her and her condition because “they know about the world." Because they know about the world. And what is wrong with knowing a little bit about the world? Especially when it could help prevent the unacceptable amount of lives taken. 

Now, I wish to clarify. All of the information I’ve revealed as well as the emotional expression I’ve laid out upon you is not strictly for my benefit. The entire objective of this article was to bring awareness of the very real quirks in our seemingly perfect world. The odds that an adolescent will have a mental disorder is one in five. It’s not a ruse or deception. I’ve laid down the facts. It is a mental condition, and if more of us were informed about them, we could learn to be more accepting and support those in need. Do not tell them that it’s all in their heads.

They already know.