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Teenagers and Mental Health During COVID

  • El Bat Cate School
  • Mar 8, 2021
  • 5 min read

Charlotte Wells '24


As a teenager, I can attest to the fact that managing the stress of school while maintaining a happy and healthy mindset is an incredibly difficult task. High school is demanding enough without the added strain of a pandemic and isolation; we students already have the pressure of maintaining a solid GPA, cultivating meaningful friendships, involving ourselves in extracurriculars, staying active and healthy, and much more.


Lately, teenagers, myself included, have been struggling to balance it all. An article published by Stanford Children’s Health further emphasizes the idea that the pandemic has been detrimental to teens' health. Dr. Strelitz, a pediatrician from Bayside Medical group, states, “Anxiety and depression in teenagers has become a huge problem, even prior to the pandemic, and is getting worse.” Anxieties that have formed during the past year are centered around questions like: Am I being too needy towards my friends? Am I going to have time to do all this homework? Why am I having such a hard time focusing on Zoom? Personally, being stuck in another state during the March-April quarantine as I watched friends hang out without me caused anxiety and made me question the sincerity of my friendships. We all, adults and kids alike, had to spend time away from our friends and family members for a much longer period than anticipated. It can be really hard to be alone.


Along with mental health issues come unhealthy habits, such as a poor sleep schedule; there were days when I found myself awake until 4 am, resulting in me sleeping through half the day. A few weeks ago, as I was talking to my friend, she said something that really struck me. She noted, “Every day feels the same. We stay up late, wake up late, then waste the day doing nothing. It’s become a routine of nothing.” I agree with this statement completely. To many teens, every day has become the same. We wake up, attend online school, pay attention for a little, staring at our screen. Then we go on our phones, Snapchat our friends, and scroll through Instagram and Tik Tok until the day is over, only to realize we have been on our electronics for hours. Recently, I put a question on a public social media platform where I asked people, mostly ages 14-18, the following question: “Throughout 2020, did Covid 19 and quarantine cause your mental health to worsen and/or cause existing mental health issues to become increasingly worse?” The results were not what I expected. Nearly 300 high schoolers responded by saying, “Yes, throughout 2020 their mental health worsened and/or caused existing mental health issues to become incredibly worse.” I asked one of my friends Ksenia why she answered “Yes” and she replied, “I had just gotten so used to seeing my friends and living this ‘normal life’ that when everything changed so fast it was incredibly hard for me to mentally process and adapt to what would sadly become the new ‘normal.’”

Although there is a significant number of teenagers whose mental health worsened, a few said the time spent in isolation actually bettered their mental health. Some said isolation gave them time to think and reflect. However, though isolation allows for reflection, it also allows for overthinking.


I think that a lot of teens, when faced with being physically alone for a long time, adopt the belief that they are alone emotionally as well. Many of my friends explained to me that when they were in isolation-- even though they could text or call their friends or family at any time--they still felt alone. The most important thing that we can do is remind ourselves and our friends that we are not alone. Sometimes all it takes is a simple “Hey, I miss you” or, “Love you” text to remind someone that they are cared for. No matter how different people are in their likes and dislikes, hobbies and passions, and political views, we all struggle with similar emotions and thoughts. When I counted how many people had said COVID-19 had been extremely detrimental to their mental health, it made me wonder: what can I do? What can we do for each other?


Mental health issues aren’t just simple “problems'' that you can fix. Especially during these times, we have to remember that getting to a place where you are happy with your mental health takes time. It is okay to not be okay. It is okay to feel sad. You have to ask yourself, “Am I really doing well? Am I happy?” If the past year has taught me anything it’s that it is okay to answer that question with no. Being scared to show your emotions is perfectly fine but being scared that no one will support you is not. You will always have support, whether it be from parents, family members, friends, teammates, or even someone you barely know like me. The truth is, I don't know all 296 people who answered yes and told me their mental health was not doing well. These people were brave and they opened themselves up to a total stranger even if all they did was just say “Yes.” You have to let yourself be brave and vulnerable if you want to clear a path forward. Just like it can take time to admit your mental health is suffering, it can take even more time for you to feel that your mental health is better.

There really is no “easy fix.” Learning to love yourself and accepting that you are struggling is the first part of getting better. As Suzanne Heyn, a woman whose job is centered around installing self-love in people, said, “Healing isn’t about changing who you are; it’s about changing your relationship to who you are. A fundamental part of that is honoring how you feel.” We all have insecurities and parts of us that we wish were invisible. Accepting that they are there and are a part of us is the first step in bettering our mental health. The journey to achieving a stable and good feeling about your mental health is a long journey full of moments packed with emotion and clarity. Sometimes it can be overwhelming trying to get better. You might want to stop trying to improve your mental health, and you might be so insanely tired of fighting and of not being happy. When you are at that low point, just remember, you didn’t come this far to only come this far. As psychology professor Noam Schpancer once said, “Mental health is not a destination but a process. It’s about how you drive, not where you’re going.” You are the only person with your hands on the steering wheel.


If there is anything I want you all to take away from this article it’s that you are never alone when it comes to your mental health. You don’t need to struggle alone.


 
 
 

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