Feb. 7, 2021 By: Paige Ker
Today mental illnesses are quite common. According to the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) every 1 in 5 people living in Canada experience a personal mental health problem or illness. When having to live with a disorder many can experience anxiety, extreme mood changes, social withdrawal, changes in sleep, and/or eating patterns. As well, feeling worry and paranoia. Some may feel all, these and some may only feel a few. By having these feelings, it can be hard to live a typical life.
According to the Canadian Mental Health Association, 10% to 20% of teens experience depressive episodes. The most common disorders among teens are anxiety disorders, mood disorders, psychotic disorders (social phobias, depression, and eating disorders). Having to live with these symptoms everyday can cause major strain on the body. This will result in sleeping for long periods of time and/or struggle with daily activities. This can be explained by the spoon theory by Christine Miserandino. This means when someone lives with a disorder each day, they theoretically have 12 spoons for everyday tasks. A scenario using spoons could be a person with anxiety wakes up and needs to get themself ready for the day, this will cost 3 spoons. Next is doing online classes, this would cost 4 spoons. Now this person needs to do homework, this will cost 2 spoons. Now chores need to be done, this costs 1 spoon. Finally, this person still needs dinner and to get ready for bed. They haven't socialized with anyone or done anything above the needs of the day. Having to treat your days this way can make it awfully hard to have eventful days or even just days to do more than the basics. Some things that can worsen disorders are traumatic events or an unhealthy coping mechanism.
Now that anosognosia people, people who don’t recognize they suffer from a mental illness, can have a better understanding of the basis of mental disorder, can now start breaking down the stereotypes. Disorders are a chemical imbalance in the brain that cannot be altered. It is important that mental disorder is not seen as something that can be changed. It is troubling teen's anxiety levels have been tested and compared to a patient in the psych ward during the 1960s and they are in close range. Mental health is everywhere now in life, which means this is something that cannot be swept under the rug.
