2022 Mental Health Essay Contest Awardee: Honorable Mention
Surviving the Pain
Melvin, Massachusetts
In hindsight, a large part of my life has been similar to an ocean in terms of its motion. Disregarding the constant animation, everything in my life—especially the plights—was evanescent in the sense that I was never helpless, never stuck. I always found a way out, voluntarily or involuntarily. My mother would help heal me if I fell and scraped my knee; if I cried one day about being teased, my brain would forget about it the next. That young, fragile boy seemed so mentally strong. He knew how to get out, how to solve problems. Most importantly, he knew how to get help, and if he did not, his brain would just forget and move on. I still wonder where that strength had come from.
I now realize that a teenager’s plights and a child’s plights are usually very different. For example, those moments when I was teased resulted in sadness. The sadness, fear, and nervousness were emotions, regular human emotions. What I now face, however, are anxiety disorders. I had never felt more terrified than when I went through my first anxiety attack. I am from a religious family, and I am not sure how to describe that moment other than by saying that I genuinely did not think that, during that moment, even God could save me from myself. After that day, I was determined to find an answer to why I was going through this now. Why not back then? Did my answer have to do with my physical health? Setting? Or was the universe punishing me for something I did?
The sudden insight that came to me from my first anxiety attack instilled a new level of awareness. I started to see characteristics in my peers that seemed deeper than natural emotions. Consequently, I talked to people about mental health, but they found ways to dismiss the direction of the conversation. These moments were when I, first-hand, witnessed the mental health stigma. These experiences only fueled my curiosity since I not only wanted to find out how I can navigate anxiety but the origins of this stigma.
My curiosity led me to find a connection in the dichotomous nature of physical and mental health. For example, my passion for fitness led me to the internet to research and participate in online fitness communities. Nevertheless, what I found was one origin of the mental health stigma. Videos and comments talked about going to the gym after taking depression and anxiety as pre-workout supplements; these statements undermined both illnesses. The perception among these people that mental health is something basic alleviates its seriousness, and this translates into their perspectives of people who are actually going through mental disorders. Furthermore, this undermining is fueled by using some mental health terms in vain when a more physical term would be appropriate. For example, as a high school student, I frequently hear words like depression and anxiety substituting relatively simple phrases like "I'm upset." Essentially, I’d found some factors accounting for the mental health stigma, which connects to physical and student-related health since fitness and student environments were factors of this stigma. I made it my goal to reverse the stigma using the connections themselves.
I realized that one way to reverse the mental health stigma is to bring it into spaces and mediums that teenagers already see as topics of utmost importance. There is not really a stigma among teenagers regarding purely physical and school-related difficulties. In fact, most people at my school utilize one another, especially faculty, when they need help with study-related habits. Conversations about sleep and exercise are also typical in my school. In addition, I found plenty of student-run communities and websites that offer things like SAT, AP, and homework support. The mental health resources, however, seemed a bit too distant for teenagers to access.
This realization led me to the idea of developing Health Made Simple, a community with the mission to not only provide resources in terms of content and support but create a community of teenagers focused on teen health. What is unique about this initiative is that it is in partnership with School Made Simple, an organization that helps students find academic and extracurricular resources and opportunities. There are thousands of students together in this dual community, and by putting mental health resources next to other resources, the website will hopefully play a part in reversing the stigma behind mental health. The content itself also brings something new to teenagers. It is composed of a range of topics: spirituality, relationship, personal health, fitness, and mental health. This strategy is in an effort to appeal to as many teenagers as possible. For example, if you are an athlete seeking physical advice, you can join this community and gain access to not only resources on physical fitness but almost anything related to health. Essentially, this initiative will bring people seeking to improve in any aspect of health into a shared space that treats everyone's problems and goals equally and respectfully. The website will foster comfortable discussions about all of these topics together.
As excited as I am to see the growth of this website, we need schools, communities, and even nations to become aware of mental health and its stigma. Even if they do not deal with mental illness, every single person plays a crucial role in reversing the mental health stigma and supporting others and themselves in their health-related goals. The medium itself could be anything, from clubs and classrooms to global initiatives. As long as we bring people together and think and talk about mental health with the same seriousness and comfort as other aspects of health, I am sure that the joyful child in every one of us will remain.
NIH recognizes these talented essay winners for their thoughtfulness and creativity in addressing youth mental health. These essays are written in the students' own words, are unedited, and do not necessarily represent the views of NIH, HHS, or the federal government.
Page updated September 20, 2022
