An average class at MCHS is 25 kids. Out of those 25 kids at least 10 of them will have persistent depression and overwhelming anxiety.
In 2023, CDC found that: four in 10 (40%) students had persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness. two in 10 (20%) students seriously considered attempting suicide and nearly one in 10 (9%) attempted suicide.
“I wish that more students had the knowledge of taking care of themselves and learning their own coping skills and mechanisms before it gets to a point where it was too much for them to handle,” said Dr. Bailey Parzygnat, school social worker at McHenry Middle School.
Self advocacy is one of the biggest reasons many students, and people in general, don’t get the help they need and deserve. Self advocacy is something people struggle with if they constantly believe no one can help or that they’re overreacting within their symptoms.
“If you’re struggling,” Parzygnat says, “there’s always someone who can help you. There’s ways we can help you feel better, but you need to advocate and speak for yourself first.”
People getting mental health help has been rising meaning more people, not just students, have been seeing their problems and knowing something was wrong, but sometimes it can be more severe than they had thought which leads to extensive care like hospitalization, medication and intensive therapy sessions.
“I know students getting mental support outside of school,” says Eric Born, school psychologist at MCHS, “in terms of some of them may need hospitalization or treatment for an extended period of time, that number has increased compared to previous semesters.”
While the rise in mental illness hasn’t always been directly correlated with social media, a big reason people believe the younger generations seem to be struggling more is because of it. The direct comparison to others and the access to almost anything you can think of.
“You can argue,” Born says, “I think, a lot of the pressure on younger people, more so than my generation, has to do with social media and the challenges there, and kind of coping with and finding a healthy balance with using devices.”
While 40% of students will have the persistent factor of mental health issues, there will always be someone there to help. In and out of school there are millions of resources across the world for anyone with different thoughts and coping mechanisms.