Why is education on Mental Health important? (Essay)

I believe Mental Health Education is important in today's society.

It's 2015, discrimination against affected individuals shouldn't even be a prominent issue, and here is why;

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The Importance of Mental Health Education In School

Although society has grown and developed over the years, the stigma surrounding mental disorders is still a prevalent issue in many communities around the world. Until the late 1960s, mentally ill patients were regarded as the lowest form of human life and were thrown into mental institutions, where they would be locked into rooms and were often subjected to cruel punishments –some of these individuals were tortured, others were horribly beaten, and a large amount of patients were brutally castrated. It wasn’t until the early 1970s when health professionals finally put an end to the horrible treatment. In today’s society, mental illness is more understood and accepted than ever before - however, the stigma that revolves around mental illness still exists and not much is being done to eliminate it. Schools need to incorporate more education about psychological disorders to give students a better understanding about the many different forms mental illnesses and make them feel comfortable around the issue, which will eliminate the stigma in the future. The importance of education on mental illness in schools is demonstrated through lack of those seeking professional help, the total amount of students who are affected by mental health, and by the lack of knowledge of the various treatments.

It is important for schools to educate their students about mental illnesses because the stigma around mental illness still exists, despite the commonality of mental issues in society, causing a sense of alienation towards those suffering from mental disorders. Psychological disorders can affect anyone; no matter the individual’s age, sex, or race. Teenagers are just as vulnerable to suffering from a mental illness as adults, and many of these teenagers are students in high school. Additionally, there are over 450 different definitions of mental disorders in the current American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic Statistics Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) - During the 1950s, the DSM only contained 60 definitions of different mental disorders. With the rapid growth of the understanding of mental illnesses, along has the total number of people diagnosed with a mental illness. What seemed to have been a rare issue during the period of the 1900s has become common within today’s society: “Almost 20% of children and youth in Canada or roughly 1.5 million individuals suffer from a diagnosable psychiatric disorder. Two thirds of these suffered from more than one disorder and less than 20% receive therapeutic intervention.”. A fifth of all Canadian youth will be victim of a mental illness - however, even with such a high number of those affected, the stigma surrounding those suffering from a psychological disorder still exists. According to this statistic, it is estimated that in a class of thirty students, six of them are currently facing a mental issue. The average total of students in a single high school is around 1900 individuals, which calculates to approximately 380 students affected by mental disorders. When depicted on a smaller scale, it is easier to understand just how common mental issues are in society. Nearly 20% of these youth do not seek for any help, a percentile that should be too high for modern society. Many of these children and teenagers fear the feeling of feeling different, which results in the lack of assistance towards their mental issues. However, this statistic is solely based on Canadian studies. The 1.5 million students that experience a mental illness in Canada is a small amount when compared to the total number of those suffering around the globe: “Around 450 million people currently suffer from such conditions, placing mental disorders among the leading causes of ill-health and disability worldwide.”. To scale, The total amount of people suffering from a psychological disorder is just under the sum of the population of two of the largest countries in the world; the United States and Russia (461 million combined). With a number of that scale, one would expect society to be more understanding towards mental health. Sadly, many people still do not understand the severity of the suffering of those living with psychological disorders. Negative perspectives begin to arise from this lack of education and causes individuals with mental illnesses to be stigmatized and discriminated against. This results in the alienation of those with psychological issues, leading to some of them to believe that they are not equivalent to individuals who live in perfect health. Due to the stigma that revolves around psychological disorders, many of the individuals suffering from these issues do not seek any help from health professionals: “Treatments are available, but nearly two-thirds of people with a known mental disorder never seek help from a health professional. Stigma, discrimination and neglect prevent care and treatment from reaching people with mental disorders, says the World Health Organization (WHO).” It is estimated that 300 million individuals of the 450 million people suffering with a mental illness will not seek help. The vast majority of people who experience a psychological issue within their lives do not seek assistance because of the previous views that once surrounded mental disorders. For many years, the mentally illwere seen as lower forms of human life - Many patients were treated like animals, simply because they were different to the people of the community. However, those horrible treatments were put to an end over fifty years ago. In today’s society, the mentally illare treated with the same dignity and respect as any other person in the community. Society has advanced greatly in understanding psychological issues but the negative belief still lingers among the minds of the people. It is important for schools to incorporate more education on mental disorders to students to eliminate the stigma that surrounds the mentally-ill, as many of their own students may be experiencing a mental issue of their own. With more education, more individuals will become comfortable with psychological disorders, which will result in a higher amount of people revealing their mental issue and seeking help both in the school and in many other places.

Education is an opening pathway, which leads to new beginnings and change. This is evident through the constant evolution our society has faced, especially in the fields of mental illness. Why do people seek the need to treat a physical illness, but laugh at the idea of being mentally ill? It was not until recently where people realized that mental illness affects many people, and this realization came through the power of education. The highest rate of people with mental illness is between the mid-adolescent ages and early to mid-twenties, according to Statistics Canada: “teenagers and young adults aged 15-24 experience the highest incidence of mental disorders of any age group in Canada.” This suggests that the majority of people affected by a mental disorder in Canada are students. The most common mental illnesses within Canadian students are anxiety disorders: “Anxiety disorders are the most common illness to affect children and youth. About 6% of kids experience an anxiety disorder at some point.”There are many different types of anxiety disorders - Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Phobias, OCD, PTSD - but the most common within students is Panic Disorder. There are can be different factors that correlate to panic attacks but within the student community, having to maintain high grades is the most popular. Panic disorders are not commonly seen in the younger grades - rather, they become more of an issue to the students in older grades who are preparing for post-secondary. These older students tend to feel more pressure from their family, friends, and society to be accepted into a prestigious University, which usually requires them to achieve near-perfect grades during their last year in high school. This proves to be a difficult obstacle to overcome and builds stress within a teen, which eventually triggers a panic attack. it is important for students to be educated on mental issues because there is a large amount of students in every school who fall victim to these high levels of stress. In many cases, the students do not seek help because they do not understand what exactly it is they are experiencing. The more students know about mental disorders, the more they will understand that what they are experiencing is not normal, and the more will try to reach out to health professionals for help. Additionally, depression is also a common psychological disorder within students. Depression is usually said to be caused by a significant loss in life, such as the death of a family member or the loss of a job, but a number of other factors can also trigger depression as well such as the pressure put on by school. Teenage depression is no stranger to society - every so often, there is a new tragic story of a teenager taking their own life, due to numerous personal reasons: “young people diagnosed with depression are five times more likely to attempt suicide than adults.”Between all of these teenagers who commit suicide, however, there is often a single similarity; many of the individual’s family and friends claim they did not see any abnormal behavior within the victim. The questions during these situations are; did the victim actually display no depressed symptoms or were the people around the victim clueless to all the given signs? it is important for schools to educate students on mental health to give them a better understanding of the different symptoms of certain disorders and to increase the chances of preventing another student taking their own life. Suicide among teens happens far too often, and attempted suicide is at an even higher rate: “19 percent of young people in the United States either contemplate or attempt suicide every year.”An education on the severity of mental illness will help prevent this fate for many and will lower the statistic all together.

Society has advanced greatly in terms of treatment towards the mentally-ill compared to fifty years ago. In modern society, there are countless ways a patient can be treated for their disorder. It is important for students to be educated in mental health because there is a large number of different therapies a student can use if they feel like they are affected by a disorder. There are several different forms of psychotherapy, all of which have a high success rate. Every individual is unique, and a certain therapy may not be as effective to one person compared to another. However, not many youths know about the various types of treatments used towards mental health. It is important for students to know the many options of therapy there is available for them. For students with anxiety disorders, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is the most popular treatment, used widespread around the globe. When compared to standard treatment, CBT is more effective: “When the patients were followed-up 1 year after the beginning of their treatment, results showed that 13.9% of patients who received CBT treatment demonstrated normal levels of health anxiety, compared with 7.3% of patients who received standard care.”CBT focuses on changing both the patient’s thinking (cognitive) and the patient’s actions (behavioral) into a positive way of living. For students with depression, Cognitive Therapy is the most effective way for treating this specific mental disorder. Therapists use this treatment as a way for the patient to express their inner feelings as a way to relieve pressure. There are various therapies, each with their own unique way of treatment.

Youth in today’s society are far too undereducated on mental health. Schools understand the importance of physical health, why not the importance of an individual’s mental being? Being mentally healthy is just as important as being physically strong. School’s need to educate their students on the many different psychological disorders to give youth a better understanding, along with a sense of comfort when faced with their own personal issues – this will result in the elimination of the stigma that surrounds mental health in the future. Once this idea is agreed among all individuals within modern community, society can finally live in an era of human equality and understanding.