Whether in a school, home or social setting, feelings of sadness and panic play a role in most teenage lives. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 7% of children in the U.S. have diagnosed depression, and three in four have anxiety.
NHS psychiatrist said while stress and sadness are normal reactions to difficult situations, mental disorders are long-lasting and all-consuming.
“If you do have anxiety and depression, it really permeates your entire life,”. “People often have dissociative feelings of feeling like they’re not connected with their body and struggle with that daily.”
The psychiatrist also said the effects of anxiety and depression vary for each individual based on their prior experiences, cause of the disorder and coping mechanisms.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), one in seven individuals from ages 10-19 experience a mental disorder, accounting for 13% of the worldwide total. Teenage years are moments of extreme development on an emotional and physical basis, opening adolescents to the possibility of developing mental health conditions.
American School in London Counselor Kia said many students are unaware that anxiety and depression are widespread amongst their peers, underlining a regular need for support.
“I have students coming in feeling like they’re the only ones in the world that feel this way, and it’s just not true,” Kia said. “It can be extremely common that during school or any kind of stressful period to need help managing these feelings.”
Furthermore, American School in London Student Gracie said when she experienced anxiety in the past, she distanced herself from those around her and lacked motivation surrounding academics.
“I withdraw myself from my friends and stop trying at school and eventually just end up living in a way that I’m barely doing anything other than what I need to do to stay alive,” Gracie said.
Panic attacks come on suddenly with symptoms of breathlessness, racing heartbeat and excessive sweating, according to WHO. However, anxiety attack symptoms follow a period of immoderate worry which can escalate over a few minutes or hours, typically displaying symptoms of lower intensity than panic attacks.
American School in London Student Sunny said he has previously assisted a friend during an anxiety attack. Sunny said the experience was “eye-opening in a negative way” to the world of mental disorders.
“It’s so important to see that there are people suffering from these conditions and be aware of the effects they have and just be aware that you might need to help in those situations or try to understand what they might be feeling,” Sunny said.
Moreover, the psychiatrist said people must understand the distinction between feeling stressed and experiencing an anxiety disorder. Typical anxiety is the body’s response to stress and should reduce as the stressor is over. However, according to Healthline, removing the trigger oftentimes doesn’t reduce the symptoms in anxiety conditions.
Contrarily, depression is a mood disorder marked by a degree of sadness and loneliness, according to Johns Hopkin’s All Children Hospital. Depression is typically accompanied by inactivity, guilt, loss of concentration, social withdrawal, sleep disturbances and sometimes suicidal tendencies.
According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, in 2017, 13% of U.S. teenagers ages 12-17 said they had experienced at least one major depressive episode in the previous year, up 8% from 2007.
Kia said the most common age category suffering from anxiety and depression are people in their early teenage years, predominantly due to increased academic difficulty as well as developmental changes from puberty.
“I’ve had to help a lot of students in the past with issues with depression, but the age group I’ve noticed it hits the most is probably starting at the age of 13 or 14,” Kia said. “That’s the age, where of course, school starts getting harder and big emotional and physical changes take place.”
According to an online survey conducted by The Standard Nov. 9 to Dec. 4 with 139 student responses, 71.2% of the population has either always or often felt overwhelmed since the start of the school year. Moreover, 117 respondents stated they experienced difficulty falling asleep due to stress-related causes.
Gracie said despite one’s best efforts to minimize the impact of anxiety or depression, challenges often ensue.
“It can be hard to deal with the impacts of mental disorders, especially because there can be so many that infiltrate so many parts of our lives,” Gracie said. “The feeling [of the disorder] can overwhelm the effort to make it better.”