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The Inaccessibility of Mental Health Help

September 18, 2018 in Educate Yourself

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According to The Guardian, adolescents across the pond are having an extremely difficult time accessing facilities to help with the mental health treatment they need. The majority of children and adolescents with severe mental health issues in England have to travel more than 100 miles away from home to stay in these facilities due to bed shortages in the those closer to them.

Sending children far away from home has debilitating effects as well, adding onto to the troubles that they are already going through. By separating the child from the parent, particularly in a time of need, contact becomes increasingly more difficult. This makes it harder to receive familial support as well as family therapeutic work. The environment is also incredibly unfamiliar to them, as opposed to a facility nearby, making the adjustment process harder.

The situation doesn’t differ back here in the United States, however. In Macon, Georgia, there are 56 school counselors in a school district with 24,000 students, and each of the nine psychologists work individually with 2,500 students (the recommended ratios are 1 counselor to 250 and 1 psychologist to 1000). Not only does this affect the counselors and psychologists, stretching them thin, but having so many students to care for makes it harder for the students to get time to discuss what they’re going through, especially as the number of those with mental health issues grows.

Schools can be the most accessible option for adolescents to seek mental health help, but without being able to get the time to go in because of the lack of availability, they may feel like their issues are being neglected. The resources aren’t there, and therefore the school doesn’t see mental health as of an issue. Without that help, the effects begin to build up as well, particularly with school performance. In Macon’s case, this is also true outside of the school setting; school psychologists can refer students to outpatient providers if necessary, but their availability is nearly nonexistent as well. 

Both cases show that the number of children and adolescents who need assistance and help with their mental health is far greater than the availability. As the number of those who show symptoms of mental health issues increases, the number of those able to help has remained the same. Though the reasons for this can vary, like lack of budget or lack of recognition of mental health as a valid health issue, the fact still stands that there isn’t enough help available to those who need it.

Do you think that there should be more mental health facilities accessible for adolescents? How well do you think your school is with their mental health facilities?

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Staycationing and Giving Yourself a Break

September 17, 2018 in Be Positive

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While the term itself may be new, staycations are the opportunity to take a break from reality while still living in it. How one specifically defines what a staycation is to them can vary, but so long as it’s somewhere familiar, involves a significantly relaxed pace, and does not involve your everyday routine, it’s a staycation. Unlike vacations, they come without the stress of planning an itinerary, or meeting schedule times like flights and tours, but they still come with that temporary escape that gives your brain the break it needs.

As an opportunity to relax, staycations can have several benefits to your mental health. It’s a reminder that you’re allowed to pause when things get overwhelming, giving your mind the chance to distract itself on things that aren’t taxing or daunting. Stress can manifest itself in physical ways too, so taking the time to breathe can have a positive effect on the tight knots and tense muscles as well. And while escapism is one purpose of staycations, it’s also the chance for reflection. There’s no looming tasks to distract you during this time, and by relaxing, you can also have the opportunity to think about why you have been feeling the way you feel in an unassuming, peaceful environment.

For those who can, staycations can be especially luxurious by staying in a fancy hotel nearby or booking a spa session to fully indulge in relaxing. These don’t have to be the only options for an escape, however. The following can be some other options:

Have a DIY spa day: Sure, it’s not actually going to the spa and having someone pamper you, but getting a face mask, putting on your favorite playlist, and dropping a bath bomb in the tub can have a similar effect.

Rearrange your space: Staycations keep you in a familiar environment, but it’s still the chance to escape, so if you can, you can move things around and pretend as if your living space is someplace completely new. Furniture rearrangement is one option, but you can also make yourself a blanket fort, or simply light a few candles.

Explore nature (weather pending): If you live near somewhere with trails or near a park, you can take a couple of hours to go with a friend, family member, or even just yourself and your headphones, and walk or bike surrounded by trees and green.

So don’t pack your bags and settle in somewhere you know, and let your mind take the vacation it deserves.

Further reading:
https://medium.com/thrive-global/9-steps-to-a-mental-wellness-staycation-6bdf5aca54d0
https://www.bustle.com/p/how-a-staycation-helped-me-with-my-anxiety-why-you-might-want-to-try-one-too-7580043

Have you ever taken a staycation? How would you plan a staycation if you were given a few days to yourself? Do you think taking one would benefit your mental health?

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I’m Listening

September 14, 2018 in LINKS

(Trigger warning: suicide)

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Last Sunday morning, radios across the country devoted two hours to a candid discussion about mental health and suicide for Suicide Prevention Week. The simultaneous broadcast nationwide featured prerecorded interviews with celebrities, from Alessia Cara to Michael Phelps to Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda, and gave the opportunity for people to call in and share their personal journeys. Though it was broadcasted around the country, people weren’t afraid to open up, going into detail about their depression and experience with suicide, including recalling their childhood and their experiences with mental health as minorities.

I’m Listening is a website that helps to bring awareness of the pitfalls and trials of mental health, though it enhances the discussion by featuring celebrities with their experiences and stories. By promoting articles about celebrities and mental health, it helps us to realize that we’re not alone because celebrities are just like us.

The following are a few of the posts on the website that you can explore:

I’m Listening Broadcast: The main feature. The aforementioned radio broadcast is an annual event, archived for those who missed it but still want to listen to the candid conversations with celebrities, medical experts, and the everyday person about mental health.

Videos: The website interviews celebrities outside of the broadcast as well, such as the one with Alessia Cara. The site also features encouraging messages, something we all need sometimes, including from celebrities like BTS.

Resources: I’m Listening has a list of phone numbers and communities available for contact.

Articles: Though not direct interviews, the website discusses other places that celebrities and notable people have talked about mental health. This includes a write-up about Shawn Mendes’ music,  Imagine Dragon’s Dan Reynolds’ interview with Ellen Degeneres, and Selena Gomez’s interview with Harper’s Bazaar.

It’s important to remember that mental health is a journey that one doesn’t take alone, and I’m Listening reminds us of that. Not only does the broadcast itself give an open platform to make the conversation that much more available, but the website itself has several ways to connect those who are going through the same thing as us, even if they are a little bit more well known.

If you or anyone you know ever feel in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 or go to your nearest emergency room

What do you think are the best ways to communicate to discuss mental health? Now that celebrities have become more vocal, do you think they’re helping make the conversations you have with others about mental health a little easier?

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YouTube, YouTubers, and Relationships

September 13, 2018 in Social Media Guide

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It’s difficult not to feel even a little jealous when scrolling through our numerous feeds, seeing people we know participating in adventurous activities and hanging out with other people, wishing we could do the same instead of viewing someone else doing so on a screen. FOMO is an all too familiar term, but recently, the fear of missing out has only intensified with the increased use of social media, particularly when it comes to the endless material from YouTube, one of the most popular sites for adolescents.

When watching our favorite television shows and movies, we find ourselves drawn to certain characters and form an attachment to them. These characters are usually a huge contributor to why we like what we consume so much; we develop somewhat of a one-sided relationship to them, wanting to see them succeed, viewing them as a role model, or perhaps seeing them in a romantic light. These parasocial relationships – a one-sided relationship with the media we consume – are taken to the next level when it comes to actual people. However, while this was pretty much limited to glitzy Hollywood celebrities, YouTube culture and influencers have taken these relationships to an entirely new level.

Unlike fictional characters, who don’t exist, or celebrities, who are unattainable, there’s something about watching someone who’s just like us living a luxurious, yet attainable life. Even though we aren’t capturing our lives on film and uploading them in easily consumable 20 minute vlogs, we can relate to their easy senses of humor, their mundane tasks and chores, their get-togethers with their friends who we also watch. It’s like we’re being invited into their lives, almost as if we’re their friends as well.

Some say that these YouTube parasocial relationships can have its benefits, giving adolescents with low self-esteem find their ideal selves, using YouTubers to find traits that they too could have and adapting them. By seeing these YouTubers as an ideal, adolescents can be more motivated to set goals for themselves to accomplish something akin to what these relatable creators do. However, it’s important to remember that these relationships aren’t even that, as they are one-sided and there is no reciprocity from the YouTuber’s side, simply because they don’t know the viewer beyond a statistic. These imagined relationships with the creator can play a large role in how adolescents socially develop and how they view relationships away from the screen with those they physically interact with.

Of course, YouTube is still a source of entertainment at the end of the day. We enjoy watching people, whether fictional, celebrities, or creator, because there’s something about them that appeals to us. Though at the end of the day, the screen and reality are two different worlds.

Do you watch YouTubers? If so, why do you watch them? Do you think watching vlogs can affect your view on relationships?

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Depression Naps

September 12, 2018 in Educate Yourself

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As one of the more notable symptoms of depression, napping or sleeping for long periods of time can suck time out of the day. Naps during the day mean that the time to do other things is lost, and doing so can make you unable to sleep at night, which makes you tired the next day, and repeat. Some suggest tracking your sleep patterns in order to adjust it, but when depression factors in, it’s harder to track just when you want (or maybe don’t want) to take that inevitable nap.

The primary cause for depression naps stems from avoidance. While naps are supposed to be a refresher before going about the rest of the day (think siestas), people take depression naps to escape from the feelings and thoughts that depression causes. It’s a coping mechanism, something to do to not just pass time, but to let the brain shut up for a little.

These naps serve as an escape, but they are anything but beneficial. They can last from several, excruciatingly long minutes to almost the whole day, and with them come lethargy and a lack of desire to get up, therefore spending more time being sedentary. Sometimes, it feels like the problem can only get worse. Depression naps can also trigger anxiety, because now that some of the day is wasted, so has the opportunity to get things done. This also comes with a feeling of guilt, because the time where you could have been busy and accomplishing things was sacrificed for essentially doing nothing. Then there’s the fact that once you’ve taken a nap during the day, it’s significantly harder to fall asleep at night. A lack of a study pattern has its adverse effects as well, like on school performance, blood pressure, and appetite. Overall, depression naps can cause a snowball effect that often times enhance depressive symptoms. 

While trying to avoid them is easier said than done, it’s important to not feel guilty when you find yourself falling asleep when you don’t want to. Sometimes it’s the only thing the body can bring itself to do, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only solution in an attempt to feel better.

Further Reading:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/what-is-a-depression-nap_us_5a54e4c8e4b01e1a4b19fdad
https://www.refinery29.com/excessive-sleeping-symptoms-of-depression
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5449130/

 

Do you find yourself taking depression naps? What do you think can be done to avoid taking them?

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Preparing for Gloomy Days

September 11, 2018 in Educate Yourself

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Though mental health doesn’t take vacation days like school does, there’s just something about the end of summer that makes times a little more difficult. Of course, the back-to-school struggles are always real, but it could also be how it’s the final stretch of intense heat and humidity, and we’ve almost literally reached our boiling point. There’s the pressure to take advantage of those last few full days of freedom, or the anticipatory anxiety of the 180 that’s taking place in our schedules.

These are all reasons for the end of summer blues, but perhaps a significant reason is how these all come with the realization that the weather is changing, almost going through a whiplash in what it wants to be, and – to quote Jon Snow – “winter is coming.” While it can also be present in the summer, seasonal affective disorder is more infamously known for its onset during the colder, gloomier times of the year.

Transitions are never easy, and now that we’re currently in one of the more intense ones, here are a few things to keep in mind to make it a little easier:

  1. Remember that summer isn’t over: technically autumn doesn’t start until September 22nd. Labor Day may be over, but it’s the unofficial end of summer. The days are still long, and though most of them are spent inside school, the sun’s still out for outdoor activities like sports or lounging at the park with a book and an iced coffee.
  2. Think about the benefits of autumn: sweater weather! Halloween is 50 days away! The leaves changing color, walking ten feet outside without breaking out into a sweat, holiday season is near – the list doesn’t end. Each season comes with their own set of great things about them, and preparing for what comes with autumn will help now that the great things about summer are coming to an end.
  3. Organize: spring cleaning isn’t for another six months, but now’s also a perfect time to change things up to coincide with the changing weather. Now that school is currently in session, the routine has started to settle in. Giving binders, planners, and computers a quick refresher to adjust to what fits the class can make the upcoming assignments a little less daunting. Now’s also the time to start transitioning shorts and t-shirts out and replacing them with scarves and jeans.
  4. Summer will come back: if summer is your favorite season and you absolutely hate the colder seasons, just remember that they’re all cyclical. Time flies, and before you know it, the long, lazy days of summer will be back.

Do you like autumn? Are you doing anything, or have you done anything, to adjust now that summer’s ending and school is in session?

 

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The Bigger Picture

September 10, 2018 in Be Positive

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I recently stumbled upon this quote, and I’ve been thinking about what it’s saying and wanted to share what I thought of it. I feel that many times during a struggle or a time when we are transforming from a hard situation, others can judge. This does not necessarily mean they are judging in a harsh or negative way, but it just means that they walked into your situation in life on a day or moment that may have not been your best.

Many times in my life when I badly wanted to heal and improve certain aspects of myself, others saw one moment of my struggle and was just able to grasp that second. I want to make others aware that just because other people saw you on a day that you were really anxious, or a day that your thoughts were everywhere doesn’t mean that the progress you have made is lost. It’s a process and you’re growing more each day. Just put one foot in front of the other and focus on how you can make this world a better place. Keep fighting guys!

How do you feel when you encounter people during a hard time? Do you think that remembering that they are only catching a moment in time will help?

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Social Media as a Resource

September 6, 2018 in Social Media Guide

X44KOBJR0EIn the never-ending debate on the pros and cons of social media, particularly on mental health, we don’t seem to talk as much about how we can use social media as an outlet. While it isn’t a replacement for therapy and professional help by any means, social media can help to reassure us about how we’re feeling, whether it be through initial research or talking to other people who are going through the exact same thing.

Studies have shown that the internet is one of, if not the first resource adolescents use to learn more about depression. Doing so allows them to in anonymity, without the worry of asking people they know and any questions that can result from it. Going online for research can also include going to forums or blog posts by people their age, a more familiar source for information compared to adults like teachers and therapists.

Of course, what is social media without interaction with others? Social media is much more than public posting and curating content for mass consumption. The creation of direct messaging and group chats through popular apps like Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter allows for a private space within the apps to talk to people whose posts may have felt relatable.

Just like that initial internet research, these sorts of spaces in social media allow for more anonymity, getting rid of a wall of potential judgment. The lack of face-to-face interaction can actually reduce the pressure of opening up, as well as having a space to truly feel like one’s self separate from real life, where it can feel like there’s significant more exposure. Though not therapists (and they shouldn’t be treated as such), these “mental health peers” are confidants who understand and have most likely experienced similar events and feelings, unlike those in real life who want to help, but can only offer sympathetic support.

As always, it’s important to keep safety in mind and making sure that those online are who they say they are. Once that’s established however, between the dashboard refreshing and photo posting, the envelope icon on the same app can provide some much needed alone time with those you can trust, but haven’t met.

Further reading:
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/depressed-teens-turn-social-media-cope-survey-finds-n895951
https://www.nbcnews.com/better/health/struggling-cope-online-mental-health-peer-can-lend-support-ncna896911

How do you feel about using direct messaging and group chats online to openly discuss personal issues, especially regarding mental health? Do you participate in any?

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Using Loud Music to Relax

September 5, 2018 in Educate Yourself

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Gavin Whitner via MusicOomph

The setting may feel all too familiar. You lock yourself in your room, blasting music at full volume, shutting yourself from everything else and everyone and surrounding yourself with noise. The genres can vary: maybe you prefer the sound of electric guitars and banging drums, bass-boosted beats, someone screaming, or maybe all of the above.

If the music you prefer tends to be on the louder side, listening to it can help during times when your depression and anxiety just won’t be quiet. A study conducted showed that those who like listening to “extreme” music when angry does not increase that anger, but instead helps to stabilize them. Those in the study also commented that they listened to the same kind of music when they were feeling down. And just like relaxing, calmer music, loud music can help decrease the emotions after listening, because it was something that they liked listening to. In fact, the upbeat music also help to make the people feel more inspired and active afterwards.

Having depression and anxiety comes with a lot of disjointed emotions, particularly anger and sadness, and sometimes, it feels like you’re feeling everything at once. It can feel really overwhelming, because where can you start to untangle these feelings? Loud music can do just that – the volume and style can almost be a companion, making you feel less alone because it’s audio reflection of what your brain is going through.

Loud music can also help process and regulate the more intense emotions, offering a space where you feel nothing but that noise. Sometimes, listening to upbeat, louder music music isn’t distracting but is instead the background noise needed to try and decipher what you’re feeling at that moment. It’s almost like listening to hype music when you’re working out: doing so lets you focus on the physical exercise, while doing so here lets you focus on the mental exercise.

So if you ever need an escape and something to cope, find that rock or rap playlist you enjoy and blast it. Just be mindful and use headphones, and be careful not to completely blast out your eardrums.

Do you like listening to “louder” music? If you like to listen to music to relax, what kind of genres do you prefer?

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A “Self-Evaluator” Site Designed Especially For College Students

August 31, 2018 in LINKS

528147Anxiety is skyrocketing among college students, but they often don’t know how to figure out how much the anxiety is interfering with their lives, or where to go on campus for help.

The Self Evaluator website is designed to help you solve these problems. The Duke University School of Medicine developed the Self-Evaluator for Jed’s college-student-support site, ULifeline.

It screens for thirteen of the most common mental health conditions that college students face. This screening does not give you a diagnosis, but it asks detailed questions that can identify mental health challenges that might be interfering with your thoughts, feelings and behaviors.

The site is also tailored to give you specific information about exactly when and where on your campus you can go to reach out for help.

This tool was created for college students and we think it is super useful!

In it you will answer survey questions with answers of Yes, No, or Unsure.

Then …

  • It will briefly give a simple screening of a problem that you MAY have
  • Then a link that gives more information on that potential problem

There is also an Ask the Experts tab with FAQs about certain topics—simply use the drop-down menu to choose a topic area.

Have you ever used screening tools? What do you think about this one? How was the FAQ/Ask the Experts information? What kinds of resources does your school have for times when you might need extra mental health support? 

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