Essay On Mental Health Awareness

While the topic of mental health awareness has recently been introduced, the roots of mental illnesses run deep into history. Mental illnesses, also called mental disorders, are a wide range of conditions that affect mood, thinking, and behavior. Many people with mental illnesses are now fighting to increase awareness of disorders like depression and anxiety, and some argue that the best way to educate about mental illnesses is to teach about it in school. By educating about mental illnesses in schools, activists are hoping to increase understanding about the topic and prevent teenagers who have mental illnesses from feeling alone.
Firstly, learning about mental illnesses can decrease rates of teen suicide. In fact, there is a direct connection

They also believe that children and teenagers may not handle learning about mental health the correct way. Those who argue against teaching about mental health in schools argue that “[educators] are causing widespread confusion among the majority when we engage [children] in discourse about mental health” and that they “might be encouraged to pathologize their emotions” after watching a video. (Gill n.p.). The author of the article is claiming that only a minority of people are affected by mental illness. She is also arguing that children might think of their emotions as “wrong” even though they are not, suggesting that they cannot handle learning about mental illnesses. On the contrary, the assumption that “the majority” should not be taught about mental illnesses is false. The assumption that children and teenagers cannot handle learning about mental illnesses is also false. Since over 20 percent of teens have a severe mental condition, “there are people all around us that are coping with some sort of mental illness” (Fader n.p.). In a group of five friends, chances are at least one of them has a mental illness. Since mental illnesses affect behavior, even the friends of someone who has a mental disorder can be affected. Mental illnesses do not just affect a minority; they affect the people who have them and their friends. Likewise, the