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Can Schools Influence Stigma?

November 2, 2021 in Educate Yourself

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Our environments can have a powerful impact on how we view things, especially in how we view the things about ourselves. Because adolescents spent a lot of time in school, their teachers, their classmates, and the content that they learn can influence how they interpret information. This also includes mental health: conversations with peers and the ways that teachers talk about their expectations on students can have subtle, but lasting effects.

Overall, there has been a general movement to include more education about mental health in classrooms. This includes training programs to address youth mental health for school personnel, and states like New York and Virginia now make it mandatory to include mental health instruction in classes (New York in all grades from kindergarten to 12th grade, Virginia in 9th and 10th grade).

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There are other ways for students to change their views on mental illness in school, but outside of the classroom where they are directly taught about it. How the school reacts to student stress, how the teacher interacts with the students, overhearing conversations between classes, and even posters in hallways can have an influence. School is so much more than just an education, and everything that goes into the school experience and how students function in schools can be defined as “school climate.”

School climate can be categorized into safety, engagement, and environment. Students, parents, and teachers answered questions in a survey about what they thought about their schools and these categories, and also answered questions to assess their knowledge about mental health, specifically with depression. There was a significant relationship between school climate, knowledge about depression, and stigma, showing that the more “positive” the school climate was, the less likely that students held a stigma about mental health and the more educated they were about the topic.

A positive school climate, based on the results, meant things like students feeling that their teachers cared about them and that they felt safe at school. This kind of climate, combined with mental health programs in classes, can help adolescents feel more comfortable talking about mental health and if they have a mental illness, not just because they are learning about the facts, but they know that they are in a space where they feel respected.

How do you think schools can help students learn more about mental health? How can schools adjust their environments to normalize mental health?

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The Act of Smiling

November 1, 2021 in Be Positive

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You might have heard the phrase that it takes more muscles to frown than it does to smile. The amount of muscles that it takes is up for debate (some places say it takes 13 to smile and 33 to frown, some say 22 to smile and 37 to frown) and it’s not really a fact – it hasn’t even been proven to be true – but the mentality remains: it’s better to smile than it is to frown, and takes less effort.

Happiness itself isn’t a choice; mental illness can make it difficult to feel positive and happy, but just the act of smiling can make a difference. Just like deep breathing or going for a walk, this action sends messages to your brain to help lift up your mood. Laughing also has the same effect, but sometimes that can feel like too much effort at times (after all, forcing laughter can feel so awkward). Choosing to smile and making yourself lift the corners of your mouth upwards activates the release of hormones like dopamine and endorphins, which can make you feel better and combat stress.

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Then of course, there’s the common belief that smiling is also contagious. This goes both ways: by smiling, you might inspire someone around you, whether you know them or not, to feel a little happier and smile themselves, or you can surround yourself with people who have a smiley disposition and feel the effects of being around that.

It might seem silly to try smiling at nothing, but it can be a boost of energy and positivity by using just a few muscles (13, or 22, or whatever number it is depending on who you ask).

Have you ever tried smiling without any reason? What do you think of the idea? What makes you smile?

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Getting Better Sleep without FOMO

October 28, 2021 in Social Media Guide

Quite often, the first piece of advice we receive when trying to change our sleeping habits and to get a better night’s sleep is to put our phone (and all other types of screens and technology) away. Experts recommend that adolescents get at least 8-10 hours of sleep a night, and to ensure staying asleep, to avoid screen time at least 30 minutes to 1 hour before you plan to call it a night.

There are plenty of reasons to explain why you should avoid your phone, computer, tablets, and TVs before bed: the bright light keeps you alert and makes you less tired (but more tired in the morning), REM sleep (where memories are processed and has ties to problem-solving skills) is decreased, and of course, using screens delays sleep as a whole because you’re engaging with content in some way.

But like all habits, distancing yourself from your phone before bed is easier said than done. For a generation of youths that communicate online as much as, if not more, communicating face-to-face, putting phones away, along with the conversations, social media platforms, and friends that come with it, can be nerve wracking. 

We’ve talked about FOMO and social media breaks before. Because technology and social media is so crucial to how many youths communicate today, it’s easy to feel like anything could happen and that you can miss something important without your phone for just a few seconds, an hour before sleeping, and even longer than that. Not having your phone charging next to you means that you might miss a conversation in a group chat, an email, or even a notification about something you don’t care about at all. The excitement of social media, regardless of what the content is, and just the fact that there is always content to see, makes us want to stay on and makes us afraid that we’ll miss something important, even if it’s most likely not.

If you’re trying to get a better night’s sleep but are having a hard time parting from your phone to do so, just know that all that content will also be there in the morning. Most of the time, there isn’t anything groundbreaking that requires us to stay up expecting an alert at 1AM. Putting your phone away right before bed can also be the first step to take if you want to distance yourself from how much you use and rely on social media as a whole.

If anything, keeping your phone away may make it easier to get out of bed! If you use your phone for your alarm and have it far away from you, you have to get out of it to turn it off, instead of pressing snooze a bunch of times and/or staying in bed scrolling aimlessly on your phone, just like you did the night before, giving you a less groggy and grumpy start to the day.

Do you have trouble sleeping at night? Where do you keep your phone when you’re getting ready for bed? Have you ever considered keeping your phone away before bed? If you have, or do keep it away, has it made any difference in your sleep?

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The Struggle in Finding Treatment for POC

October 26, 2021 in Educate Yourself

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Stigma towards mental health and mental illness has always been present, but the way that stigma is expressed and the level of stigma can depend on a variety of things. One of those ways is how stigma can differ among different races: posts here have covered how stigma acts as one of the barriers for people of color to seek treatment, including African-Americans, Asians, and Native Americans, for example.

Between the increase in mental health awareness and health literacy (especially among young people, who are more active online and in social justice causes), young people of color may feel more comfortable and open about seeking treatment. The process to not just find a therapist that fits them, but being able to afford one, can be a difficult journey, though.

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In a field where the majority of practitioners are white – 86% of psychologists are white, which is more than the US population at 62% – it can be hard not just for minority youth to find a therapist representative of their race, but one that can relate to the experience of being a racial minority in general.  While this may not be the case for all minority youth, some may feel hesitant about what their white therapist may think of them or feel like they have to translate their experiences to have their therapist understand exactly why they feel a certain way because their therapist never experienced those things themselves.

There’s also the argument that the way that therapy and mental health treatment is designed in the United States is specifically for white people. There has been a call for more culturally adapted treatments and more options for kinds of treatment: for example, one study saw that Asian-Americans’ brains responded more to problem-solving therapy (PST) compared to more traditional CBT. 

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Even if minority youth find a therapist that they do like, it can be even more of a struggle once they take cost into account. People of color – African-Americans, Latinx people, and Native Americans in particular – are more likely to be at or below the poverty level (and significantly more likely in some states) in comparison to white people. People of color also have lower insurance coverage rates and have lower-tier levels of insurance that can make affording mental health treatment even more costly.

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So what can be done to help people of color, minority youth specifically, get the treatment that they feel fits them the best at rates that they can afford? At the very least, young people of color becoming more vocal about their mental health could lead to an increase in those wanting to study psychology and enter the mental health field, thus diversifying the field. While that may seem like that’s farther down the line, it’s still a sign that things are changing.

If you identify as a POC, have you ever tried to seek treatment? What sorts of things do you look for when finding a therapist? What issues have you run into?

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Calming Down Through…Smell?

October 25, 2021 in Be Positive

Take a moment to think of scents that make you happy. It could be the smell of your favorite food, your significant other’s perfume, or the scent of opening up a new binder. 

There’s something about scents in particular that seem to evoke strong emotions and feelings. Think of nostalgia, for example. Sure, you may have vague memories about certain things in your life, but get a whiff of something like sunscreen and all of a sudden you’re transported back to that beach you used to go to all the time growing up. Not only may you find yourself nostalgic, but you may see an increase in your mood as you remember splashing in the water and the feeling of sand through your toes. 

Why is this the case though? Some scientists have found that there’s a connection between the olfactory bulb (or the part of the brain that processes smells when you sniff something) and the amygdala (the part of your brain associated with emotions and memory). They’re both a part of the limbic system, so they have access to each other. 

Good smells and its association with mood isn’t just limited to nostalgia though. Pleasant smells in general have been found to be relaxing; one study saw that the smell of oranges in a waiting room lowered anxiety levels for patients waiting for their dentists appointments, for example.

Overall, our sense of smell can cause us to react strongly to things. It may be because it’s a sense we don’t use as commonly as sight and hearing, so exposure to strong scents can cause these sensations (alternatively, bad smells can make us annoyed, stressed, and emphasize bad sensations like nausea).

And just like a clean and organized environment, having nice scents that make you happy in a place where you spend a lot of time can have a huge impact on your mood. If you want to go the nostalgic route, you can have air fresheners around you that smell like clean laundry or baby powder. You can also keep an orange or something citrus-scented (like lotion) to eat or use before an exam to help calm you down.

Good smells can have a positive impact on our moods and even calm us down, whether it be through them simply smelling nice or sending us back to simpler, happier times. Just be careful what it is though and where you use it; that nice smell could be bad to someone else, and no one likes being around things that smell gross.

What are your favorite scents? How do you feel when you smell them? How do you think you can keep them on you during stressful events?

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The Benefit of Naps

October 20, 2021 in Educate Yourself

You may have heard about the danger of depression naps before. However, this isn’t to imply that all naps are bad for you – in fact, they’re incredibly beneficial!

At first, naps can seem like a waste of time if you’re incredibly busy and are seen as a sign of laziness. They may also seem like the only thing your body and mind can do if you’re experiencing a depressive episode and don’t have the strength or motivation to do anything else. Naps are usually seen in a negative light for these reasons if you aren’t a child, despite the fact that they can help you become more alert, improves memory and creative thinking, and can improve your mood. 

This is partly because we’re told that we need to take advantage of as many things in 24 hours (clubs, homework, classes, socializing) as possible and that any “wasted time” like sleeping takes away from work. It also doesn’t help that adolescents are more vulnerable to sleep disruption (one reason being from the anxiety that comes with the many things they’re expected to accomplish) and shouldn’t be going to school as early as they do (experts have been pushing high schools to delay start times, for example). 

Overall, adolescents are not getting the amount of sleep that they should, and not giving yourself the time for that break and mental rest can ultimately lead to burnout, which can then lead to more depressive symptoms, like those dangerous and long depression naps.

This time of year might be a good time to start incorporating naps. The sun is starting to set earlier and may make you tired when it gets dark, but taking a quick nap can refresh you so that you can stick to your regular sleep schedule. For those who are dealing with the burden and accompanying anxiety that may come with exams and finals, taking a break by taking a nap can have you shut off your brain for a while to give it a quick recharge. 

Of course, it can be really easy and tempting to keep your eyes closed for “five more minutes.” There are a few guides and tips online to help make sure you stick to your schedule, but consider the following:

Time and schedule naps:

Just like any other habit, napping should have some consistency. Everyone’s daily routine changes and no one’s is the same, but if you can find a period of time that you feel would be good for your child to squeeze a few minutes in, their body will start to associate it as a “recharge” time. They shouldn’t be too late in the day or too long either – most places suggest somewhere between 10-30 minutes.

Do NOT sleep in your bed

Even though this is a place where you’re meant to sleep, your body associates it with long periods of rest. If you nap here, you’ll likely find yourself sleeping for hours instead of a few minutes.

Plan the space accordingly

While you want to be comfortable, you don’t want the space to be cozy to the point that you never want to get out – you’re only there for a brief period of time after all. Make sure the space is dark, but cool, and use a lighter blanket as opposed to an entire comforter. 

Keep your phone away

It can take a bit before you eventually fall asleep for your nap, and can therefore be tempting to go on your phone. Also, once your alarm goes off, having your phone next to you makes hitting the snooze button that much easier. Keeping your phone away (and on “do not disturb” to avoid notifications!) will force you to get up to turn off the alarm. If you have a smartwatch, try putting your alarm on there instead.

Ultimately, naps are a good thing, but it also (ironically) includes some hard work to make sure you’re taking them in a healthy way. You know your own mind and body the best, and it’s up to you to determine if they’re helpful to you, how much you need them, and when to tell that they’re becoming an issue and a sign of burnout and depression. That being said, getting that extra (or even missing) rest can be a pleasant and mood-boosting habit you can incorporate in your routine!

Do you take naps? What do you think of them? How would you differentiate depression naps and regular naps?

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Social Media can Induce Feelings of Anxiety

October 14, 2021 in Social Media Guide

Social media can produce high levels of stress and anxiety.  Sharing and posting  aspects of your life with others is the purpose of social media, but it can lead to negative outcomes. These negative outcomes can cause a mental health concern or it can trigger an existing disorder. Studies show that those with higher levels of self-esteem use social media to creatively express themselves by posting and sharing information.  On the other hand, those with lower levels of self-esteem use the sites differently.  Individuals with lower self-esteem spend a significant amount of time counting likes, making sure there is never an unflattering picture, or negative comment made that would change the image of themselves they are creating.

Constantly checking for updates, statuses, comments, and likes can generate massive amounts of worry and anxiety.  Studies show that people feel a constant impulse to check the sites and it can cause anxiety and worry when individuals don’t have access to social media.  The constant need to check up on what is happening on social media can cause sleep disturbances and can cause individuals to compare themselves to others.  When a person begins to compare themselves to others it can lower self-esteem even more and cause a cycle of negativity.

Anxiety is a part of life and everyone has feelings of anxiety at times, but it is important to stay connected with how you are feeling so you know when things are going wrong.  If you realize that you are checking social media constantly, try taking the time to separate yourself from it.  Social media can be fun, but your mental health is more important.  Self-care is key and you must do what you can to protect yourself from becoming too invested in this virtual version of yourself. At the end of the day, being satisfied with who you are in reality and loving that person is far more important than comparing yourself to virtual versions of people online.

Have you ever taken a break from social media? Do you find yourself comparing yourself to how other people present themselves on social media?

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Why Does Anxiety Disrupt Our Sleep Before a Big Event?

October 12, 2021 in Educate Yourself

The situation may be all too familiar: you have an important event coming up, or worse, happening the very next day. It’s a job interview, a big test, the playoffs for the sport you play,  a move to a new apartment, the start of a significant school year. No matter what it is, you can’t seem to sleep, like, at all. Your body is waking you up throughout the night, or it might not let you go to sleep at all, and you’re just lying there, trying to keep your eyes closed in your dark room despite being fully conscious.

One of the most commonly known symptoms of anxiety is trouble sleeping. Disruptive sleeping, insomnia, and napping during the day have all been associated with anxiety and other mood disorders, but regardless of the level of anxiety one may have, it seems like nearly everyone can recount a time that they had a major transition or change approaching and getting little to no sleep the night before.

Changes in our lives and routine, even if they seem small, can throw our body off and both confuse and stress it. In general, people prefer the things they’re familiar with, and even if something new and exciting is coming up, like a flight for a vacation, the body isn’t used to this event that’s happening, even if it’s something it’s experienced before. Even if it’s a positive event, those with anxiety may also find themselves thinking of worst case scenarios or negative events that can either ruin or cancel the event before it even begins. For example, if  you have a flight coming up to a vacation that you’ve been planning forever, your brain may start worrying about missing the plane, or getting stuck in traffic. It may think of a scenario where you bought a ticket for the wrong flight, or make you worry that you’ll get into a big fight with one of the people you’re vacationing with.

There are plenty of ways to combat general trouble sleeping, but when it comes to one-off events like these, some experts say to just embrace it. It’s difficult to force sleep, and being exhausted the next day is never a fun feeling, but it’s also not the end of the world. If you know you have a big event the next day too, try to practice habits to help you sleep throughout the day. Don’t drink caffeine after noon, and do your best to avoid screens close to sleeping. If you find yourself unable to go to sleep at all at night, try moving to a different part of your home that’s dark and cool and sit there for a bit as well.

Can you remember a time where you had trouble sleeping before a big event? What was the event? What have you tried to get better sleep? Does your anxiety affect your sleep?

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Weekend Reads: Latino Youth Stories about Their Mental Health

October 8, 2021 in LINKS

We wanted to use today’s post to highlight personal essays from Latino youth and how their culture and personal experiences have played a part in their mental health and coping mechanisms. Studies and news reports are showing that Latino adolescents and young adults struggled with their mental health throughout the pandemic, and this comes on top of existing reports of increases in depressive symptoms.

Although no two stories are the same, especially in a diverse culture covering all sorts of identities, it’s important to highlight how individual people, especially young people, talk about their mental health and culture. Whether you want to learn more about young Latino’s experiences with their mental health, or if you identify as Latino and want to find stories that you might be able to relate to, we hope you take the time to read or listen to these personal essays and stories:

How My Latina Identity Holds Hands with My Depression
Isabella Montano Ponce: Latino Teens and Mental Health
Alex Garcia Culture and Mental Illness
The Mental Health Crisis Among Latina Teens

Do you identify as Latino, Latina, and/or Latinx? How has your culture impacted or played a part of your mental health?

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It’s Okay to Want Attention

October 6, 2021 in Educate Yourself

There are several reasons why people may be hesitant when it comes to opening up about mental health, and especially mental illness. Stigma still plays a large part, while others may feel that what they’re experiencing “isn’t that bad” and that others have it worse, so it’s not worth bringing up.

Similar to this, others may be afraid to open up about their mental health because they are afraid of taking up too much space in others’ lives. It’s not uncommon for those experiencing symptoms of mental illness feeling like they are a burden and that their mental illness is something that will inconvenience others around them. Some may view simply existing with mental illness as troublesome and being a negative presence around others, while others may feel that talking about their issues and what they’re going through is too selfish.

As humans however, we all crave attention and the feeling of being wanted. There’s nothing wrong – and it’s even helpful – to openly talk about what you’re going through and when your mental illness is severely impacting you. When it comes to trying to find that balance of seeking support from others and demanding too much space, keep in mind some of the following items:

If you think you’re taking up too much space, you most likely are not. Mental illness has a way of manipulating and negatively affecting your thoughts and how you see the things and people around you. While you may think that you’re being selfish and only talking about the negative things that you’re experiencing, the reality is, it’s probably not the only thing that you’re talking about with others, and definitely not the only thing others are talking about with you.

Find and trust your support system. Obviously, you don’t need to tell everyone in excruciating detail about what you’re going through, but try to find at least a couple of people who have similar mental illness experiences, are those that you can trust, and/or identify as people close to you. In moments when your mental illness seems overbearing, they can be people you can immediately contact. If you are having difficulty finding a support group, there are online spaces for those to talk about their mental illness with others in a nonjudgmental and safe space (like SOVA!).

If you don’t get a response right away, it’s most likely not because of you. Just like the human need for attention, humans also naturally center themselves and that the things that are happening around them are a result of things that they have done. If you text a friend that you’re not doing too well and they haven’t responded immediately, just remember that everyone has their own lives and are being affected and demanded by other tasks, people, and things. A response two hours later is not reflective of you; they may just be experiencing other things that are taking up their time.

Who have you talked about your mental illness with? Have you been afraid to open up about things because you think it’s selfish or burdensome?

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