Mental Health, a blooming issue

 Kevin Mamo

Professor Horgan

HST - 401 A

October 16th, 2022

Mental Health, a blooming issue

In all honesty, I used to think that mental health wasn’t a big deal. Coming from a family of immigrants and seeing how my family across the world lived I found it difficult to believe that people here in a first world country were dealing with anxiety, depression, and other disorders. My thought process used to be that we live in a peaceful area with food, water, housing, clothes, and a bunch of other luxuries that others dream of having, so how could one possibly be depressed or anxious with all of these blessings?

 It wasn’t until I saw one of my closest friends deal with anxiety that I started to believe mental health disorders are indeed a serious issue. He grew up with a loving family and all of the necessities that I stated before, so when he finally told me about his anxiety attacks I thought he was exaggerating his condition. However, even through my doubts he kept telling me when and why he would start getting panic attacks and how they exceedingly got worse with each incident. This was in our junior year of high school, and he was worried about his SAT scores, getting into a good college, and then eventually finding a good job. He said he felt it was expected of him to do so (even though it wasn’t) , and that if he didn’t go to a prestigious college and earn a high paying job then that he was a failure. It became an obsession and he stressed about it constantly as every time I saw him it was all he would talk about. 

It got to the point in which he started having panic attacks in the weeks leading up to the SAT examinations, and later on college application deadlines. These incidents leaked into other aspects of his life such as his job search and even social life (nervousness and welts in his throat around new people when previously he was fine with meeting others) .His experience made me realize that just because you have the basic necessities of living doesn’t mean you’re incapable of becoming overwhelmed in other ways. All of his little stresses added up over the course of two years until it triggered his anxiety attacks. 

I find it important to note that my friend isn’t alone in this matter, in fact, 1 in 5 adults experienced mental health issues in 2020. Things such as trauma, stress due to illness, stress buildup, or even one’s personality can lead to excessive anxiety/depression. The mental health statistics for 2020 make sense then due to Covid-19 and isolation which are both directly tied to trauma and stress about illness. However, I think the leading cause for mental health disorders is due to the many stresses people deal with in their everyday lives. While a global pandemic isn’t the best stress reliever, mental illness didn’t just become a problem due to covid although it has been exacerbated by it. The little stresses that multiply over time, such as my friend’s case, I feel like are the main culprit because these are many things that are unavoidable. For example, financial issues are very common and since we live in a world where currency is quite literally required to do anything it makes sense that people would worry excessively over their financial situations.

The other glaring issue with mental illness is that many mental disorders lead to actual physical problems. Those with depression have a 40 percent higher risk of developing cardiovascular and or metabolic diseases. Many with anxiety disorders develop problems such as GERD [Gastroesophageal reflux disease], brain fog, and body aches. It becomes a vicious cycle as the physical ailments prompt the anxiety, and the anxiety worsens the physical ailments. A Lot of adults who are overweight, which America has plenty of, deal with anxiety over their eating habits and become depressed due to the way they look or act. I feel like many don’t think of how physical problems can lead to mental disorders because when people think of mental health they limit it to strictly concerning the brain. And yet the data says otherwise because those who are overweight/obese have a 55 percent higher chance of becoming depressed when compared to adults who aren’t. It’s the everyday, or rather common, things that everyone experiences that sparks mental disorders. If an issue isn’t serious, or common then one wouldn’t stress or become anxious about it. For instance, the general population doesn’t become depressed or anxious due to wizards appearing and terrorizing them because wizards don’t exist hence they don’t pose a problem to a normal person. 

I willingly admitted that I wasn’t that much of a believer in mental health, but after seeing the experience of others I’ve seen its importance. But not only that, I see how much a problem mental health is in our society. Mental illness is nothing new, but it seems everyone has recently started noticing the importance of treating and helping those with mental illnesses rather than shunning/ignoring them. 

Sources:

“Anxiety Disorders.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 4 May 2018, https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/anxiety/symptoms-causes/syc-20350961#:~:text=A%20big%20event%20or%20a,Other%20mental%20health%20disorders.

“Mental Health by the Numbers.” NAMI, https://www.nami.org/mhstats.

Vafiadis, Dorothea. “How Excess Weight Impacts Our Mental and Emotional Health.” The National Council on Aging, 21 Apr. 2021, https://www.ncoa.org/article/how-excess-weight-impacts-our-mental-and-emotional-health.